


(ON HOLD/RE-WRITING)His Majesty My King (Demon!BonniexReader)

by MeTheMe



Category: Five Nights at Freddy's
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Demons, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Blood, Blood and Gore, Blood and Violence, Bonnie's A Demon, Comfort, Crying, Dark Magic, Death, Demon/Human Relationships, Demonic Possession, Demons, Devils, Don't Judge Me, Fanfiction, Feels, Friendship, Gore, Hell, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Jealousy, Love, Magic, Manipulation, Minor Injuries, Mistakes, Multi, Not Lore Friendly, Obsession, Original Character(s), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Second Person, Possession, Reader-Insert, Romance, Royalty, Serious Injuries, Sex, Sexual Content, Sexual Tension, Sorry Not Sorry, Torture, Violence, you - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-18
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:22:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 23
Words: 47,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23662276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MeTheMe/pseuds/MeTheMe
Summary: This story is under heavy construction at this time and will not be updated for a long time. Please consider this before reading.A new beginning. Due to what you thought was a failure of a life, you make a rash decision so you can have a second chance. Will it be another disaster or the best thing to ever happen to you? Maybe the certain pair of eyes on you will know. Maybe they will give you an opportunity too good to be true.Maybe His Majesty will become YOUR special King.
Relationships: Bonnie (Five Nights at Freddy's)/Reader
Comments: 32
Kudos: 52





	1. Welcome To Hell

**Author's Note:**

> Um, yeah. Demons. If this isn't your cup of tea then shoo. No one's forcing you to read this. This whole story is my own messed up interpretation of Hell and is not meant to be accurate to what anything says about it in the real world. If you are annoyed or offended at me not being loyal to how it's actually depicted then this probably isn't the story for you as I'm simply having a bit of fun with my strange imagination. Maybe I will put small little nods to real beliefs and such but they are not meant to be taken seriously as they are mere inspiration prompts. Again, this is not meant to be accurate and is my own interpretation. Leave if you do not like it. Uploads will be once a week on Saturdays. Enjoy my insanity.

You take a deep breath. This is either going to be the end of you or be the best thing to ever happen. You're completely still, eyes closed, in the middle of a makeshift pentagram you made, and waiting to chant the final word of the ritual so you can finally leave this life. All you have is two bags of belongings and the book all about this other world you will soon be calling home. You already know the basics - enough to get by - but there's a gut feeling that you're going to have to be quick with your learning. It was a strangely fast process. Getting everything ready, tying up loose ends in your life and making sure when you leave no one will notice - which was easy due to you not knowing anybody. Maybe it was your determination to start anew since you couldn't bare your current life any longer, as it was a downward spiral to put it simply. Part of it may have been your fault due to your nature of being too soft at times, but that is something you can fix with this 'restart' of sorts. Not a complete one - your aren't being born again or anything - but it'll be a second chance. You don't know how smooth the transition will be since despite all your research, you have zero idea of what to expect.

~~~~~~~~~~

You feel something swirl around you so you tense up and wait for the whisper of invitation. You're supposed to respond to it the second it stops. Heavy breathing hits your ears.

"Malow, malow. Hiron, hiron. Nalar son pero ha. Hunto re julo falbo. Ki dom rasoladu..." It says.

"Ereena!" You shout. "Ereena luroto fa Ereena!"

Instantly, there's a loud noise and you open your eyes, seeing the sight you were hoping for. The ritual worked. A giant, dark red portal stands in front of you, swirling with energy in an oddly inviting way. You smile and laugh, standing up while grabbing both your bags with your heart racing with a sense of pure joy rushing through you as the portal makes weird noises you've never heard before.

"Rata dee." You sigh. (Translation: Thank You)

You take a big deep breath before stepping in. You don't even have to go all the way through since you get sucked in by some invisible force. It's warm for some reason but that feeling doesn't last very long as your vision goes black for a moment and when it returns, you find yourself in a very sleek, clean room. The portal closes behind you and you stare at nothing in particular as you thoroughly think about what you've just done. You've thought about it in the past, yes, but now that you're actually here, it's an entirely different feeling.

~~~~~~~~~~

You aren't left alone for very long, however, as the door straight ahead of you opens and someone walks in.

"Hello." They say in a masculine voice.

"Hi." You respond, slightly surprised they said that in English.

They have the body shape of a human, but their skin is a very rocky colour and texture. They have two eyes and no nose. There are horns all around the entire brim of their head and they have really long nails. The uniform they're wearing is a very simple black top and bottoms with a badge clipped to their chest.

"I'm Mr. Thisolosan." He extends his hand.

"I'm Y/n." You shake it.

"Are you simply visiting or are you planning to live here?"

"Living here."

He tuts and turns around, motioning you to follow while saying how he actually has to do his job now in a sarcastic way. You know that, just before you entered the portal, you were thinking about how you have no idea of what to expect but this was not it. Maybe that's being stereotypical but...still. It's oddly similar to your world just judging by the looks of this room plus how Mr. Thisolosan was acting but then again you've only been in this one room and met this one guy. You continue to follow him out of the room and into another, literally right across the hallway, already seeing other people who've just entered Hell. Some look sacred, hurt, not really caring and some look absolutely insane. It's very noisy as well but all the sounds immediately become inaudible after Mr. Thisolosan closes the door behind you, as your now in a very tiny room with nothing but a desk and two chairs. You sit on the one in front of the desk while he sits behind it. He opens a draw a pulls out this weird looking device.

"Hold still for a moment." He says.

He holds it up to your face and a horizontal, red, laser-like beam goes from the top of your head to the bottom, making a beeping noise when it's finished. What looks to be a hologram computer screen pops up and Mr. Thisolosan stares at it for awhile, slowly nodding.

"So I guess your here to start a new life based on what a crappy one you had on Earth?" He asks.

"Yeah."

"Think you can handle this place?" He presses on some buttons.

"I don't know, to be honest."

"Well you might have to drop the tiny, sweet and innocent...ness."

A second monitor pops up and he begins pressing things on that one.

"Hey!"

He raises up both hands and chuckles. "I was just saying. But anyway, I have to ask some questions about you so we can find out where the best place to put you is and how to get on your feet easier."

"Ok..."

You read somewhere about this. Apparently there are certain areas of Hell that are more human friendly than others and this question thing is meant for the specific place someone should go based on what type of person they are. It makes it easier to find jobs and places to live that you actually like - some of the time - since it's shoddy at best so you never know what you're going to get 100%.

~~~~~~~~~~

"How fluent are you in Enrata - the universal demon language?"

"I know the basics." You say with some embarrassment.

"So you are more comfortable with your native language?"

"Yeah." You nod with a slight bounce in your movement.

Mr. Thisolosan shakes his head with a smile on his face for some reason. "Are you outgoing or want to be as reserved as possible?"

"Reserved."

He cups one hand to the side of his mouth and whispers. "It isn't going to be very much."

You nod, pressing your lips together as you look to the floor.

"What do you like doing, hobby wise?"

"Uh, I guess (whatever your passionate about)."

"Right..."

He mashes one button until it the screen disappears, making some beeping noises as it does. Mr. Thisolosan turns his swivel seat so he's fully facing you and leans his head on both hands.

"Now we just have to wait, but this is where I get to be nosy." He says. "So how much do you know about this place?"

"Um, I don't know. Enough maybe."

"I'll take your word for it. Have you had any previous experiences with Hell or demon stuff?"

"No, not really."

"Do you know about the King?"

"Yeah." You nod.

It is kind of an unspoken rule that you have to understand the authority the King has over almost everything before entering this place - or at least that's what you're told. You had found some guides on how to act when near him, what to say when talking to him and just to make sure you get on his good side. All it really was, was merely being as polite as possible and then some more politeness. Don't be an idiot.

~~~~~~~~~~

Mr. Thisolosan continues to ask random questions about you for the sole purpose of passing time, since you can tell he doesn't really care just from his incredibly bored face. You don't really mind so you answer truthfully, not knowing if that's a good idea, but soon the monitor pops up again so you don't have to reveal every little detail about yourself. He snorts when he sees whatever on the screen, covering his mouth as he does.

"What?" You lean to the side to try and see it.

"I hope you like seeing the King." He holds in a laugh. "You get to go to On-Reston, which is where he spends most of his time."

You blink at him with your mouth slightly agape and he just nods while grabbing some papers out of a file. Maybe he's just joking. He stands up, telling you to follow him while waving the papers around for some reason so you jump up, carrying your stuff, excited you finally get to get out there and begin this new life. As you step back out into the hallway and begin to follow Mr. Thisolosan, you pay more attention to everyone else that's here. There's an entirely different story for each and every person. There's one woman bawling her eyes out and not too far away there's one jumping up and down while clapping her hands together in sheer happiness.

~~~~~~~~~~

Unfortunately, you can't hang around for very long and make sure people are ok since very abruptly Mr. Thisolosan pulls your arm though a doorway, leading to the outside. There's a small group of people already there, seemingly waiting for something and there is what is best described as a train in front of the group but it's not on any rails, instead floating on black mist, plus it's just one long cart with no separations unlike Earth. It's completely glass as well so no part of the inside of it is hidden.

"Get on when the doors open and then get off at the first stop." Mr. Thisolosan tells you. "This is a list of job options. This is a list of housing options. This is a map On-Reston. This is your ID card. And this is what you show to the guard when you arrive at the... basically, the temporary living space you get."

"Thanks." You shove everything he gave you in one of your bags expect for the form to show the guard.

"I don't know when this thing is leaving so...have fun." He extends his hand again. "Welcome to Hell."

You smile and shake it. "Thank you."

He pats your shoulder and leaves back though the door. Already, there are other people who are getting the same items from whoever is with them, and every time the last thing they say is 'Welcome to Hell'. You look around and it seems as if this building is separate from everything since it appears to be in the middle of a void. A very dark, yellowy-red, cloudy void. It's oddly calm out here, however, despite the fact some people are still crying, and the air is very clear, to the point where it's clearly noticeable. You even catch some people taking unnaturally deep breaths in because of it.

~~~~~~~~~~

Out of nowhere, a very loud beep announces itself and a very tired sounding woman starts to talk.

"Get on." She says.

Some people chuckle and the doors slide open, a ramp glides out from underneath to bridge to small gap in between this train and the ground, while everyone is already pushing to get on. When you finally enter, you merely sit on the closet seat to the door, more interested in staring outside to see... everything. Another beep happens and the same women talks again.

"You better run faster."

You look behind you and see someone running towards the train. As soon as they jump on, the ramp disappears back underneath the train and the doors close. The man gets a round of applause as he breathes a sigh of relief, collapsing onto a seat, and the train begins to move. You immediately move so you can better stare out behind you. This is it. There is no going back now - well there is but it's a complicated process. First impressions have been surprisingly nice but whether or not that will remain, is a mystery. This is your new home. Hell. This is something that a lot of people would consider to be foolish at best as they see it as a immediate path to a slow, painful, torturous and avoidable death. Maybe it is. You really don't care right now as you relax with the movement of the train while strangely beautiful landscapes whip by. Mr. Thisolosan's last words to you echo in your head.

Welcome to Hell.


	2. Dreamy

Everyone stands up as the train slows and eventually stops in front of a massive building. There's a pathway directly from the train to the building which you walk along with everyone else and you can already see a big burly demon standing just beside the door with a box next to him. The people ahead of you are showing the paper slip to him so you get yours ready to present.

"Go ahead." He says, taking your paper.

"Thanks." You smile.

The inside of the building is just a giant room with a lot of people going on about nothing in particular. Makeshift beds scatter the floor as it seems to be find a spot and get comfortable. There are a lot of demons as well - not workers or to stay here - but just casually going from human to human, talking about something. This place is meant for a temporary living space before you get on your feet, so you can more comfortably get a job and such without basically being homeless. Everyone gets five days before getting kicked out. You eagle eye an empty spot and make a beeline for it. As you sit down on the floor, you notice how warm the ground is but you don't enjoy it just yet, instead you open your bag that has all the comfy stuff in it and yank it all out to set on the floor. Once your pile of blankets is to your satisfaction, you begin to look at the list of available jobs you were given. Some part of you just wants to go for the one that pays most since the further down the list you get, the more your disappointment grows. None of them are something that you would enjoy doing. You sigh and grab a red pen out your bag to circle the highest paying one, which is just a simple office job.

~~~~~~~~~~~

You're about to look through the list of places to live but you're stopped by a sudden voice.

"Hellooo!!"

You look up and see a young woman, the only 'demon' thing about her being black eyes with white circular lines as a iris - no pupil.

"Hi." You wave.

She sits down in front of you. "My name's Irreth Ka."

"I'm Y/n l/n."

"How long have you been here?"

"I just got here."

She gasps. "How're your first impressions then?"

"Good! It's not what I expected, truthfully, however."

"Yeah! When I stayed on Earth for two years, I noticed how big of difference there is between what a lot of humans think this place is like and how it actually is."

You giggle. Something about this girl just makes her energy infectious.

"Do you know anybody here?" She asks.

"No..."

"Well you know me now!!" She gives you finger guns.

You laugh again and Irreth grabs your job list.

"Are these as crappy as they always are?" She asks. "....yeah....they are..."

"They're always like this?"

"Yeah...they should put in more fancy options, like performing!"

"Why that in particular?" You take the paper off her to put in your bag.

"That's what I do..." She looks away with a smile. "Sorry."

You shake your head to say it's alright and Irreth shifts slightly closer.

"This is going to be very abrupt and maybe weird but the reason why there are so many demons walking around, talking to people, is to offer them the choice to move in with them - which is always an apartment since no house owners dare come here." She lowers her voice for some reason. "They do it to either get a friend, merely help out, split rent or all three soooo...."

"You're offering me?"

"Yeah! You seem nice and plus such a cute little thing like you couldn't possibly survive." Irreth puts the back of her hand on her forehead dramatically.

"Hey!"

~~~~~~~~~~

The room goes silent and Irreth turns around so you follow her - and everybody else's - line of sight. At the far end of the room someone has just entered and just judging by the fancy clothes and crown on his head, it's the king himself that just walked in. You can tell why everyone went silent because there's just something about him that you need to stop and stare at. He's wearing a beautifully deep crimson button-up, long sleeve shirt, a flowy cape of the same colour reaching down to his knees being held onto him by a golden chain around his neck, pitch black pants with a golden belt and to top it all off the shiny golden crown sitting on his head that has gems just above the fluff around the brim of it. His eyes are completely black with a glowing, flat coloured, red dot in each and he has claws on the end of each fingertip. There's a shadowy figure just beside him with no features expect for two white circles on their face to serve as eyes. You presume them to be the King's right-hand man of sorts. Irreth shifts closer to you as noise starts to fill the place again.

"What do you think about King Bonnie?" She whispers.

You shake your head, mouth agape and eyes wide, as you don't know what to say and she giggles.

"The shadow guy following him is Ex, who is basically his right-hand man. He's been with the royal family for generations. He even helped raise the current King." She explains.

You slowly nod as you continue to stare, watching as he walks with such elegance. Someone runs up to him, grabbing his arm only to get shoved off, and Irreth snorts.

"That's Serran." She says. "She has the biggest crush on His Majesty you can possibly imagine. Dare I say she has an obsession... Bimbo."

"Why is she a bimbo?"

"Because she doesn't realise that His Majesty can see right through her and knows she's only in to get the title of Queen and sex from him."

"Wait." You snap out of your trance. "To get the title of Queen? He's single?"

"Yeah. And for good reason."

You shoot her a confused face but she doesn't elaborate, instead changing the subject, going back to what she was talking about before the King entered. You can't help but keep glancing at him. This 'Serran' women seems to be really bugging him, even attempting to fake fall down in front of him, thinking he would catch her. He doesn't. He stares as she stumbles over her own feet, falling backwards towards him, only to be caught by the floor, making a loud thud, and all he does is step over her to continue walking.

~~~~~~~~~~

"So what I'll do is come back tomorrow so you have plenty of time to think about it and then we can go from there, ok?" Irreth smiles.

"Of course!" You nod.

"Good. Now I shall bid thee farewell and good luck in managing to get a shower."

"Already?" You look around and see people moving about.

"You arrived pretty late."

"Really?"

Irreth grabs your chin and turns your head to the left so you can look out the window. It's dark out there.

"Well I demand a shower so I'll prepare for battle." You dig through your bag.

Irreth laughs and stands up. "Good luck. And it was lovely meeting you, y/n."

"Same here." You smile.

"Use that smile to your advantage, peef!"

Oh no. A word you haven't yet learnt. You brush it off and make your way to the door with the big sign that says 'Showers', subconsciously putting that word as top priority to learn the translation of. You enter the women's showers and are met with a bunch of rows of completely private cubicles so no-one can see inside. You start looking for a door to one that doesn't say occupied, eventually finding one in the corner of the entire room which you instantly claim. Inside the cubical is a small shower, a bench with hooks above it and a mirror just above the sink. After making sure the door is tightly locked you undress and hop into the shower. After figuring out how it works with its weird taps, you instantly feel refreshed as soon as the warm water hits your naked body since - admittedly - this is the first shower you are able to have in almost three days. Your life before that ritual - in those three days - were so chaotic and unorganized that you couldn't even consider your basic needs. Now that you think about it...you haven't even eaten in forever. You sigh to yourself, hoping that everyone will be able to have some sort of dinner.

~~~~~Scruba Dub Dub~~~~~

You jump out the cubical, now in your fuzzy nightwear, and make your way back to the main area where everyone will be sleeping. It's a lot more quieter now, which is nice, so you make your way to what will be your bed with a small smile on your face. There are two chocolate bars sitting on the pile of blankets you made so you look around and spot someone walking around with a box in their arm, tossing the same food either onto people's beds if no-one was there or straight at people if there was. You sit down, already drooling at the sight of food and immediately eat them both. Surprisingly, you feel full afterwards and judging by what you can overhear other people saying, you aren't the only one like that so you presume it's supposed to be like eating a full meal.

"So how was the first day in Hell for those that just arrived?!" Someone shouts.

You look to the back of the room and see a demon in formal clothing, seemingly the boss of this place, with the King standing next to him, reading something on a clipboard and spinning a pen with his fingers. Majority of people cheer and some even start clapping for some reason, making the boss shake his head with a slight smile.

"Well it's bedtime so if you have anything that'll disturb others get rid of it. If you wake up outside it's because you snore or make any other noise whilst asleep." He takes a step closer to the King. "This is your King. Don't do anything stupid around him or he'll silently judge you to death."

Some people laugh and the King looks up from the clipboard, towards the boss.

"What do you think about this bunch, your Majesty?"

He looks out at the crowd, starting at one side of the room and scanning over everyone to the other side. For a small, fraction of a second his eyes look at you and you instantly get goosebumps as your hair stands on edge. He shrugs once he's finished glancing over the room.

"You want to read everyone a bedtime story?" The boss asks, only to get hit on the shoulder with the clipboard.

He waves the King off as he's leaving, and turns to walk over to a hologram-like monitor like the one you saw with Mr. Thisolosan.

"Sleep well, hulortins."

The boss presses a hand on the screen and all the lights instantly shut off, the only source of illumination being the one coming though windows. You lay down and wrap yourself in blankets as if imitating a burrito. Your mind wanders from topic to topic, summarizing the whole day. You got here, made a friend and saw the King. This all seems like one of those too good to be true situations if you're honest with yourself. There is no way Hell is truly like this, there has to be a catch. It'll most likely reveal itself when you actually get out into the 'real world' shall we say, so maybe tomorrow if you except that invite from Irreth to move in with her. You'll probably accept that offer, but for now, you can rest - finally.

Just drift off to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll only add translations if your character knows it so further into the story more words will be known. The chant at the start of last chapter was part of a ritual and therefor has no human equivalent before anyone asks.


	3. Darling Flower

You get gently shaken awake and as you wake up more annoying noise starts to get louder so you sink into your blankets, mumbling as you do.

"Morning, y/n." Irreth pulls the blankets off of you.

You squeal slightly and open your eyes, making her laugh as she pulls your arm to get you to sit up. She neatens you up while you rub your eyes.

"Have you thought about your decision?" She asks.

You nod, fully waking up. "I'll come with you."

Irreth gasps, smiling and clapping in excitement. "Yay!"

You smile and look around. The majority of people are awake and ready for the day while some are still hidden away in their comfortable cocoons.

"Hey, after we get you moved in, do you want to come to this talent show?" Irreth asks.

"Talent show?"

"It's not a 'show' really. It's basically people setting up booths where they demonstrate whatever their talent is. There's no judging or anything, it's just for them to make their existence known and maybe make a small name for themselves." She explains. "Plus you can buy things! And it'll be good for me to show you around a little bit."

"I should really focus on getting a job." You fiddle with your sleeve.

"Bah!" She waves you off. "You don't need to worry about that so soon! Let yourself get familiar with this place and have some fun first."

You aren't an outgoing person so you're not used to going out for the sake of going out but it'll be a nice chance to better get to know Irreth and she has a point with holding off of getting a job. You yawn and start to shove everything back into your bag.

"I have to go change." You stand up.

Irreth nods so you jog over to the showers, already seeing a lot of people both entering and leaving the room. Why do you feel as if this is going to be a long day?

~~~~~Big Time Skip - Like After You Moved In - Cause That's Boring~~~~~

You feel like a fish out of water right now. You're walking next to Irreth to this talent event thing and you were right in your assumption that Hell is vastly different than it appeared to be so here you are, extremely uncomfortable. There are already demons giving you weird looks and shaking their heads at you for what could only be due to the fact you're human. Irreth is doing a good job distracting you from all the glares so you can actually make to the event. Your eyes scan over the room as you enter through the doors, fiddling with your sleeve. There are rows of booths on either side of a long carpet that you're standing on, full of many different things, already being swarmed by people.

"Where do you want to go first?" Irreth asks.

"I don't know. You choose." You shrug.

She laughs, grabbing your arm and she pulls you over to one full of jewelry and fancy accessories.

"Oooo." Irreth gawks at every single item. "Anything grab your attention, y/n?"

You shrug since all of it is really. The lady running the booth leans down and grabs something.

"This will look beautiful on you, love." She hands you something.

It's a flower crown, that has bright red and pink flowers. A whites ribbon is tied onto it at the back like a big bow. Irreth puts in on your head, gasping as she does.

"You look so cute!!" She exclaims. "How much is it?"

"Ro tellens." The lady says.

Irreth flicks her wrist and a purse appears in her hand.

"You don't have to, Irreth."

"Nonsense." She hands over the money. "I mean look at you."

You cover your mouth as you smile and she grabs your arm again to pull you over to another booth that catches her eye. As your being dragged along, however, you spot someone. The King. Mr. Thisolosan wasn't kidding when he said that he spends most of his time here. Ex is standing next to him, looking unimpressed as His Majesty holds up a bright pink dress to him, only to get whacked with the pile of paper Ex was holding. The King laughs and puts the dress back. You can't help but keep staring at them both while Irreth is watching someone make eight paintings at the same time with each of their eight arms. His Majesty stops out of nowhere for a second with his back to you. Slowly, he turns his head to look over his shoulder and just before he makes eye contact with you, you whip your head around so fast you swear something cracked.

~~~~~~~~~~~

"If we leave with less than two bags of things, this will be a failure." Irreth says.

"Right..."

As you follow her into a more quieter area someone yells her name.

"Oh hey, Hinor!" She says.

"I have to talk to you about something."

"Right now?"

They nod so Irreth looks at you. You smile and take the shopping bag off of her to say that you'll be fine and she agrees, telling Hinor that it better be quick. You sigh, now alone, and look inside the bag. Most of it is beauty stuff, clothes, accessories and such, a lot of it being for you since Irreth wants to spruce you up and get you out of your boring human clothes. You haven't properly tried anything on except for the flower crown which is still on your head, so you suspect all you're going to be doing when getting back to Irreth's house is wearing everything. You yelp out when something jabs itself in the center of your spine.

"Hey, bashot." Someone stresses through their teeth.

You spin around and see the woman that was annoying His Majesty the day previous. Serran. Her skin is pure white and her eyes are pure red. There are two horns on her head, curling in circles, with scales all over them and snake heads on the tips of both, almost looking like they'll come to life at any second. Her hair is short and starts as pure black at the roots, turning into actual flames near the ends. She is wearing a very revealing top and bottoms. Her fingernails are long and shaped to end in a point, explaining why that jab hurt so much.

"Saw you eyeballing Bonnie." She crosses her arms.

"I'm sorry?"

"Don't play dumb. You were staring at him and I don't care how cute you think you are," she hits your flower crown so it's lopsided, "he isn't available, so take your lust and shove it back down your throat before I do it myself. Understand?"

You nod but she jabs you again, this time the stomach and you yelp, stepping back. Serran huffs and storms off, kicking the door to the woman's bathroom open to enter. You stare with wide eyes and slowly start to walk backwards. How serious was she? It's hard to tell if it was just empty threats or she does want to 'shove your lust down your throat'. And for what? Yeah you were staring, but how could you not?

~~~~~~~~~~

You keep walking backwards for some reason until you bump into something, or rather someone. They put their hands on your shoulders but you jump away and spin around to face them. Your heart starts beating out of your chest.

"Is everything alright, my darling?" Says the King.

His voice is deep, beautifully so, and you can tell there's a slight accent you haven't heard before. It kind of takes you by surprise and you bite your lip.

"Y-yes, Your Majesty." You step back.

"You seem a bit distressed."

"I do? Um, i-it's nothing, Your Majesty..."

"Hm." He puts both hands on his hips. "I think I saw you yesterday, wrapped in blankets."

You nod as he smiles.

"Has everything been going well so far, darling?" He tilts his head.

"Yes!" You smile with your hands under your chin.

He chuckles. "Well I hope it stays like that, Miss...?"

"Y/n. Y/n L/n."

He smiles. "That's a lovely name, Miss Y/n L/n."

He holds out his hand in a way that says he wants you to grab it but it's not a handshake since his hand is flat with his palm facing up. You still grab it, afraid of what will happen if you don't, and he properly holds it. He leans down slightly while moving your hand up to his face so he can then tenderly kiss the knuckles of it. You feel heat rush up into your face.

"T-thank you, your Majesty." You stutter, completely flustered.

"Anyway, you should probably tend to your friend over there." He nods in that direction.

You look over there and Irreth is staring at you.

"Oh..." You say.

"But I'm sure this won't be the last time we see each other." He adjusts your flower crown so it's on properly. "I'll make sure of it..."

He gives you a smile and wink before turning around, walking away as his cape flawlessly flows behind him. You exhale flimsily, looking back at Irreth, who is still staring. She beckons you over while she tucks some papers under her arm so you make my way over to her.

"Y/n." Is all she says when you get there.

"What?"

"What the hell was that...?" She presses her fingers to her cheeks.

"I don't know. I bumped into him and we started to talk." You look back to where he went.

"That never happens, y/n."

"It doesn't?"

"No. His Majesty keeps to himself until he feels like it's absolutely necessary to do otherwise. If you bumped into him, he would normally just not care and walk away. Plus he kissed your hand."

"He doesn't do that to everyone as a means of greeting?"

"Nope. I don't know for sure but everyone says the King has this specific thing when it comes to physical contact. When greeting someone he usually won't touch the person or let them touch him at all. If you're lucky, or high class, you might get to kiss his hand, and if you're... You, I guess, he'll kiss your hand." Irreth explains.

"Oh."

"Yeah, 'oh' indeed."

"Is this all a bad thing?"

Irreth stops for a second, looking off to the side, before letting out a big sigh and holding your hands.

"That's a....really long discussion, y/n..." She says.

"C-can you give me the short version?"

"Um." She ponders for a second. "I guess... This might mean he has 'something' in mind for you. There have been rumors and......none of them are good."

You bite your lip.

"They are just rumors so they may very well be false but....just be careful around him. Ok?"

You nod slowly. "Ok..."

Irreth squeezes your hands before letting them go, a smile reappearing on her face. She takes the shopping bag off of you.

"Now. Let us continue are mission!" She throws a fist up in the air.

You giggle and follow right behind her as she lively walks off somewhere else to buy stuff.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

You never tell her about Serran as you merely think that's just how that woman is and there's no way to stop that so you just have to bare it. That's if she even confronts you again. If what His Majesty said about making sure this won't be the last time he sees you than that will be unavoidable due to her...obsession. A part of you doesn't care but the other part is terrified of how far she's willing to go. You have a feeling that you're going to be stuck in a certain position. If you stay away from the King, like what the scared part of you wants - and partially Irreth - then you won't have to worry about Serran, but...then you'll have to worry about what he'll do if you don't do as he wants. If you do, do whatever he wants then you'll have to face Serran and whatever the catch is for being close to the King - if it even gets to that point. There is no choice for a totally peaceful result. There is no way to satisfy everybody.

You just have to hope for the best.


	4. Tiny Blunder

"Just go in and ask for the job." Irreth rolls over on her bed.

"Hm..." You stare at the screen showing all the information about the job.

It's the office one you were eyeing off before, mainly due to it's high price payment - lero tellons an hour, which would be $30 an hour on Earth. You don't know anything about the position, however, except that it's working at a desk, behind a computer - maybe - you might end up as cleaner for all you know. There aren't any details on what you will be able to do specifically. Irreth just says to waltz in a ask for a job there, no interview or anything, and then just go with the flow. You're ready to leave right now, in your new, fresh clothes, and it's only a short walk from the apartment building you're now living in with Irreth but something seems off about this job as it's yet another too good to be true situation.

"Just go, y/n." Irreth stands up. "You look cute, they're looking to fill the empty spot right now and you may as well get it over and done with."

She pulls you off your bed and straightens your outfit slightly, saying how she can come with you if you so please.

"How do I even know I've got the qualifications for whatever position there is?"

"You do. If it was a big or important spot they would've put requirements and set up an interview, but they haven't done that so it's probably just a throw away position that can be filled by anyone."

"Why does it pay so much then?"

"I don't know." Irreth turns you so you're looking at a mirror. "But you should be happy about that. Plus, how could anyone refuse someone like this?"

She makes jazz hands behind you as you shake your head. You don't look that good.

"I'll go." You turn to Irreth.

She claps as you head for the door, map in hand because you suck at remembering directions. As you turn back around to close the door you see Irreth saluting you so you return the gesture before shutting the door.

~~~~~~~~~~

There something beautiful about Hell, or at least in this area it is, as there is definitely parts of it that are horrific but hopefully you'll never see them. Just the way the sky is covered in red clouds, slowly moving and swirling is oddly calming. It's not bathing everything in red, however, as everything looks exactly the same as it would on Earth during the day, aside from a slightly darker and warmer tint. The streets are vastly populated with demons and occasionally a human, all going on about their day without a care in the world. A 'short walk' wasn't an exaggeration in any way since you already spot the building after only five minutes. It's relatively small so it's not as intimating as you walk through the two automatic doors.

"Good morning, love. How can I help?" A middle aged man says.

He has some hair on his head and his skin has cracks in it, seemingly showing his age. His fingers are obscenely long, almost making you extremely uncomfortable but you smile and remain nice.

"I'm y/n l/n. Here for the job - if it's still available."

"Oh! Yeah it's still open." He stares at you for a moment. "You're hired."

You blink at him. "That's... it?"

"Yep. Welcome to the team. I'm Aranik, the boss of the company." He grabs your hand to shake it, his long fingers wrapping completely around your hand and then some.

"May I have more info about what I just got hired to do?"

"Assistant, basically. You just do whatever you're asked to do by anybody." He turns around. "We can go get your shift hours."

You follow as he walks further into the building. It's just a bunch of cubicles, full of people looking like they want to die as they stare at screens with an empty look in their eyes. You get led down a long hallway before getting a decent look at anything in particular so you focus on your new boss. He's tall, stocky and he greets every single female worker with the same pronoun he used for you, 'love'. It's kind of like when the King called you darling multiple times. Aranik opens two doors that has some symbols - which when converted to English letters reads 'Garton's Hiz' (Translation: Boss's Office) plastered on it and guess who's standing in that room.

"Oh, Your Majesty!" Aranik exclaims. "I didn't know you were coming. I would've made proper arrangements."

"It's fine." He puts his hand out in that stop motion. "I just came to give you this."

You notice a certain tone in His Majesty's voice that says he's annoyed. Not completely angry just yet, but will end up like that if something doesn't stop. Aranik grabs the envelope, looking tiny compared to the King, and you get noticed.

~~~~~~~~~~

"What are you doing here, darling?" He asks.

"New job."

He inhales, sharply. "You are going to be working here?"

"Yes." You nod.

The King nods and shoots a small glare at Aranik, who either doesn't notice or flat out ignores it.

"Since when do you two know each other?" Is all he says.

"We met briefly." His Majesty walks towards you.

He stands behind you and puts his hands on your shoulders, instantly making your heart beat faster with heat rushing to your face. Even though all he did was place his hands down on you and nothing else, you get a weird, tingly feeling - not in a bad way, as you know it's going to be a shame when he lets you go. Aranik says something in Enrata but it's too fast and quiet for you to make out so you're just left with how His Majesty responds, which is isn't good since you hear him growl in a deeper tone than his usual one.

"I suggest taking every word in that letter into that brain of yours and really understand what they mean."

Now the King's angry. You squeeze your hands as you watch Aranik merely throw a hand up to say he doesn't care, walking behind his desk. His Majesty sighs and leans down to whisper in your ear.

"Meet me outside, darling, once you're finished. Alright?"

You nod so he lets you go and leaves. As soon as he shuts the door, Aranik starts talking.

"Pushy, isn't he?" He says. "Be careful around him, y/n."

"Well he is the King..."

"Doesn't mean he has to be a dick." He tosses the envelope in a small trash can. "Anyway! This is your shift."

He flips through some papers as you walk closer before yanking one out and handing it to you, saying that you can start tomorrow. You look at it as he moves back around the desk so he's next to you.

"You'll be given a uniform and badge on the day." He says. "But for now, that's it. Go home."

"Ok..."

"It's a pleasure having you with us." He shakes your hand again.

You don't know how he can make that judgement already since he just met you and you haven't even began working here, but you smile and back away as he stares at you. You can still feel his eyes on you even when you've closed the door and are exiting the building. You instantly spot His Majesty and he smiles as you walk over.

~~~~~~~~~~

"You w-wanted to see me, Your Majesty?" You stutter as you look at him.

"Well, it's just that we didn't really get the opportunity to properly talk yesterday. True?"

You nod as he does what he did at the event thing when you met him, tenderly kissing the knuckle part of your hand. You bite your lip as you stare into his eyes.

"Well then how about you tell me about yourself?" He tugs your hand to get you to start walking.

"L-like what?"

"What made you come here?"

"Um... I guess it's because I wasn't happy with my life on Earth and wanted to start again."

"Has everything been going well so far, my darling?"

"Y-yes, Your Majesty. I've got some where to live and I just got a job." Your eyes wander and you notice the amount of people around is dwindling, and the people that are here are staring at you.

His Majesty doesn't care, so you keep quiet. You can't blame anyone for staring, however, since - you know - you're walking alongside the King himself, and if what Irreth said about him keeping to himself is to be believed then...that just raises so many questions. Mainly being why in everything that has ever existed, the King would talk to you as much as he is. You are honored but you can't help but be kind of scared, especially when Irreth's words echo in your mind. 'He's got something in mind for you'.

"Think you'll continue to enjoy this place?" He asks.

"I've did some research before coming here and it was all promising, so yeah... I like Hell."

"Oh...really?" His voice deepens as he speaks, sending goosebumps through you for some reason.

You nod and look at him, being greeted by a seductive grin. You don't know how much of this he's doing on purpose and how much is due to him being a natural. Maybe a mix of both. You're probably just misinterpreting the smile, and he's actually finding it amusing that you think Hell is a good place.

"You know..." He starts. "Hell can be quite similar to Earth at times."

You hum. "All of it?"

"No, not all of it, since there are some areas that are vastly different from what you've seeing now."

"W-what do you mean?"

"You know how a lot of humans see Hell as this place where all that exists is pure suffering, without a single moment being silent from all the screams of the damned being ripped to shreds by... Less civilized, demons, shall we say? Well there are places here that are exactly that."

That's good to know. Now you have a reason to go to bed afraid of what might happen if you were to end up there. His Majesty chuckles when he sees your worried face. He pushes your back get you in front of him and you realise you're outside your apartment complex. First off, you didn't tell him you lived here, secondly, that was way too quick and thirdly, god dammit. Despite all your nerves and anxiety, you admittedly wanted to talk to him longer, but alas.

"I hope everything remains well for you, darling." He says when you turn around.

"T-thank you, Your Majesty." You smile and look away in an attempt to hide it.

He gently grabs your chin, his index finger directly underneath it and his thumb below your lip, so he can aim your face up to be looking at him. You're both in the shadow of the building so his eyes glow in a captivating way.

"I look forward to seeing you again...y/n." His eyes stay locked onto yours.

"A-and I, you." You blurt out.

He smiles, walking backwards for a moment before turning around. You exhale with a notable shake in your breath, which you merely shake your head at, spinning around to enter the building.

~~~~~~~~~~

"Look who's finally back." Irreth says.

"Sorry."

"You can make it up by telling me how it went." She smiles.

You sit on the edge of your bed, directly across from her and her bed. "I mean, I got the job so...good I suppose."

"No interview, correct?"

"Nope. All I was given was my shift timetable."

Irreth gives you a look. "So what did take you so long?"

"I...may or may not have bumped into the King who might've talked to me after I got the shift thing, who maybe then brought me back here."

Irreth smacks her lips and you just tell her to not be mad. What else could you do? It would be foolish to refuse something from him - even if it is a mere chat.

"I'm not mad, just confused." She says. "Why would he walk you home after only meeting you yesterday?"

Irreth seems to be asking herself that more than she is, you, pulling a face as if trying to block out thoughts she doesn't want to think about. That gets you thinking. Did that last sentence you said to him seem like unintentional flirting? What he said to you beforehand definitely had a certain tone that was different from the rest, as it was in a deeper, quieter, slower voice and there was a pause right before he said your name, smiling as he did. You weren't thinking when you said it so hopefully His Majesty has a higher standard than what you are. Plus, it was this one time so it probably won't mean anything to him. He should know you had no idea what you were saying while getting swarmed in nerves. Irreth would call it a mistake if she found out what you said, but it wasn't, because it didn't mean anything.

But the way he looked at you as he backed away...


	5. First Shift

You slowly blink awake when your puny alarm goes off. Just yesterday you asked for a job and now here you are, an hour away from your first shift. You look over at Irreth's bed and see she's still fast asleep with her butt in the air. You sigh and sit up, rubbing all traces of sleep out of your eyes as some of you wonders if you'll see the King today, a small part of you wanting that. You spent most of the night thinking about that interaction with him yesterday and honestly, you kind of feel ashamed of your actions. You were dealing with the King himself and didn't respect that enough, merely talking to him like you would anyone else - which he is anything but. There goes first impressions - or second impressions technically. Lord knows what will happen if you piss him off. You stand up while making a promise to yourself to treat His Majesty like he should be treated. A King.

~~~~~~~~~~

As soon as you enter your working place, you get a uniform and a badge shoved in your face while being told to go put them on. Nothing else is said so you're just left to do exactly that and then figure out what to do next. As you're following the signs to the changing rooms you spot Serran standing next to Aranik with her arms crossed and lips tightly pressed together. She's calling him daddy while complaining about something and since she's got her heart set out for the King, it's safe to assume that Aranik is her actual father which might turn into a problem if her dislike for you continues to grow. Neither of them notice you so you're able to duck into the changing rooms in peace. There are some girls inside, mucking around in nothing but their undergarments, so the place is full of giggles and squeals. They are all dolled up as well like their about to go out for a fancy dinner. You go to the back of the room, in a corner, behind a wall and take a closer look at your uniform. It's a black, long sleeve crop top that has holes in its shoulders and back, golden strips of colour circling them. The fabric is rough so you're already not looking forward to wearing it. The bottoms is just a waist high, top stitched pleat, mini skirt of the same colour, with gold buttons around the waist. A pair of black, knee high, leather boots to go with the whole outfit. Your rectangular badge is white with gold around the perimeter of it, containing your full name. You huff and strip off, getting a weird feeling as you do. All the girls scream and yell at someone to get out before the door slams shut, making you jump and thank your lucky stars you hid.

"Girl! Pull the shirt down!"

You're standing in front of a mirror, now dressed, and when you look up you see someone poking their head over the wall, staring at you. The top is already showing a lot of cleavage while on properly so when you pull the shirt down, your bra almost completely reveals itself.

They tut. "Take that bra off and you'll be perfect. But have a nice first shift anyway, babe!"

You frown and pull the shirt back up to how it was before, shoving your normal clothes in your long strap handbag before putting the strap on your shoulder, with the bag hanging across your body on your hip opposite the shoulder.(I don't know the proper name for it, sorry).

~~~~~~~~~~

As soon as you leave the changing rooms you bump into Serran. She stares at you for a moment.

"Are you...working here?" She asks.

"This is my first shift."

She's pinches your cheek painfully. "Have fun~"

She enters the changing room while giggling to herself and you rub your cheek, not liking the tone of her voice. You shake your head and walk back down the hall, not even making it around the corner before hearing your name being called.

"Y/n! There you are, my love!"

"Hey, boss."

Another man is standing next to Aranik and you immediately notice his eyes are not with your face.

"I need you to bring this to the front desk for me."

"Ok." You take a file from him.

He smiles and drags the other man with him as he leaves you to do your first task. The front desk is near the entrance so you can head there without fear of getting lost.

~~~~~~~~~~

There's nobody at the desk. You sigh and press the button that tells whoever supposed to be at the desk to hurry up and get back. It doesn't take long and you hear a door open so you look at where the noise came from. A woman approaches you with the only distinguishable feature being her massive breasts, since everything else is either deformed or covered in stitches. She's wearing the same clothes that you have, only blue with regular high heels on. You're starting to question why all the women seem to have this...risqué look to them - not including the already questionable uniform.

"How can I help, doll-face?" She stretches.

"I was told to give you this."

You hand her the file and she inspects it. You notice her knees are really red, like she had been leaning on them for a long time.

"He didn't even put the permission note!" She closes the file. "It's not done. Take it back to him."

"Oh. Sorry."

"It's not your fault, doll. It's just Aranik being an idiot." She smiles and gently pushes you.

Strange. She talked as if calling her boss an 'idiot' is a totally normal thing and wouldn't lead to some sort of consequence. Maybe that's just how it is here. As your walking through the building in search of Aranik you spot the one you have seen, basically everyday. Serran is with him, blabbering on about something, and His Majesty looks as unimpressed as one could ever get. You get the feeling that he just arrived, judging by the fact there are people greeting them as they walk past and since you were just at the entrance, he's most likely been here for not even a minute. You're kind of confused since there wasn't some big formal greeting, where everyone stands and bows at the presence of the King. Originally, you thought you just missed his entrances, therefore missed the greeting, but here everyone is, only looking mildly on edge. Someone grabs your shoulder and you spin around.

"You ok, my lovely?" Aranik stares at you.

"Um, the lady there said it isn't finished..." You hold out the file.

You don't like how he said 'my lovely'. It wasn't like how the King says darling, smooth, natural and endearing. It was weird. Uncomfortable. By the look on his face after seeing how you reacted to that comment, he meant it to be that way. He takes the file off of you, making sure your hands touch, and flicks through it.

"Oh! This was the wrong copy. Simple fix." He says. "Stay here."

He leaves so you stand closer to a wall and give into the urge of looking back at the King. Serran is closer to him and he's starting to seem very irritated, his face buried in his hands. She's still talking and staring longingly at his crotch, occasionally licking her lips, only looking away from that area when he doesn't have his face hidden. When Serran isn't paying attention His Majesty notices you and waves by moving only his fingers. You do the same and see his chest and shoulders twitch in a chuckle like manner, Serran tilting her head most likely thinking she made him laugh. You hear a whistle.

"This one is the completed file." Aranik hands you it.

You nod and immediately walk away, feeling eyes on you as you do.

~~~~~~~~~~

You don't know what that file contained but the desk receptionist seemed very happy when she looked through it so it must've been important. You stop dead in your tracks for some reason. A weird feeling just rushed through your body and you feel like you have to look at His Majesty, so you do. He instantly beckons you over while Serran is inching closer and closer, her hands ready to grab either his arm or waist. You take a deep breath and obey.

"Your Majesty." You tilt your head down like a bow.

Serran glares at you with squinting eyes, her level of hatred going up.

"I'm sorry Serran, but I have some business with y/n so you'll have to cut your rambling short." He walks closer to you.

"What business?"

"That is none of your concern."

Serran sighs. "Will you come in tomorrow, Bonnie?"

"Do NOT call me Bonnie. It is Your Majesty to you." He points a finger at her. "But yes... I will be coming in."

He looks at you and smiles which you can't help but return. Serran scoffs, scrunching her face up and shaking her head before storming off.

"Greta..." His Majesty shakes his head.(Translation: Pathetic)

"D-does she always bother you, Your Majesty? If I may ask." You say.

"Unfortunately, but you saved me." He kisses your hand.

"I-it was nothing Y-your Majesty." You look away. "I-is there something you wanted with me?"

You don't know why you're stuttering so much, maybe it's the promise you made to yourself about treating him like he's supposed to be, or maybe it's because your scared of Serran.

"Not necessarily...unless you want to talk."

"I'm on shift right now, so I-I probably shouldn't, but I'm honored for the invitation, Your Majesty." You hold your hands under your chin.

You notice his eyes look to the left for a couple second before going back to you, but with a slightly different emotion that you can't quite pin point.

"You're so sweet." He says. "But, just know that you can come to me for anything you need - even if it's just to talk."

His eyes shift again to the same spot and you fight off the urge to look, which is surprisingly simple due to you being completely nervous with heat rushing to your face.

"T-thank you, Your Majesty. That's really nice."

When he glances to the left again, you finally turn your head but don't spot what would catch his attention.

"Also, don't be afraid to stand up against everyone here, darling."

You nod so he smiles and says he'll let you get back to work, before leaving. Did you handle all that correctly? You don't know.

~~~~~~~~~~

"You two seem close." Says Aranik.

"Hm? I only met His Majesty, almost two days ago. We aren't close."

"Uh-huh." He steps closer to you. "Well, he is acting awfully fond of you, so I suggest being careful."

"May I ask why?"

"Because I don't want a sweet girl like you ending up as a mangled corpse."

Your eyes widen. "I'm sorry?"

"Don't panic." He puts his hands on your shoulders. "You've got plenty of support here."

Aranik grins as he keeps cold, dead eye contact and you feel his grip tightening, his long fingers pressing into your back, slipping into the hole in your top.

"Aranik! Where has His Majesty gone?"

You look to the right and see the shadow person that Irreth called the King's right-hand man, Ex.

"What?" Aranik lets you go.

"Where has His Majesty gone?"

Ex has a very formal and posh voice, pronouncing almost every letter he speaks. It has a slight echo as well.

"He just left." You say.

Ex tuts and shakes his head.

"Yeah, talk to his ladylove." Aranik waves you both off, upset that he didn't get more time with you, before storming off.

One of Ex's eyes lowers into a semi circle, showing a lot of emotion despite those two white circles for eyes being his only features.

"I'm not his "ladylove'. We only met two days ago. I'm sorry."

"It's alright." Ex tilts his head. "I suppose His Majesty is showing a lot of...endearment towards you? Kissing your hand, showing up everywhere, talking to you all the time?"

"Yes, that's exactly what he's doing."

"Ah, I see." He nods, slowly. "Well... He will not stop that behavior, so do please try and not be so nervous or anything. It's nothing to worry about."

"Um, ok...but can I know why? Like why me? And why won't he stop?"

"He has a knack for people, so his opinions on them and relationships tend to be a lot faster paced then you would consider normal."

You nod. That explains a lot.

"He's stubborn, so he will not stop when he's got his mind set on something. That's just it. There's no stopping him. That'll come back to bite him from time to time but he... doesn't care." Ex shrugs. "He's merely trying to get closer to you. There isn't any hidden plan to do something - despite what everyone says. Take it from the one that has been with him since the beginning of his reign."

You smile and nod. "Thank you."

"Anytime, y/n. Now I have to go find him." Ex turns to walk.

"Wait! I never said my name."

"Oh, His Majesty told me all about you."

"Oh..."

Ex leaves while you stand there with a dumb smile stuck on your face. You feel nice. It's good to finally hear someone talk about His Majesty's fondness of you in a positive way. Plus it came from the one closest to him. You're still going to be nervous and scared but, it'll be in a good way.

Hopefully.


	6. Blood Baby

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning!! This chapter contains a lot of gore, read at your own risk!

Only one shift and you're already having very conflicting thoughts about this job. It pays so well, and being honest, everyone is really nice, but it's just the constant unnerving stares and red flags constantly popping up. All the tasks you were given often required you to bend over or move in a way that shows off your body, the revealing uniform being the main factor to blame. If you are willing to put up with all that, then you'll be fine. You can't stop thinking about it all while walking home and you keep telling yourself that it's worth all the wanting eyes just because of the payment. If you find a better job then you'll take it in heartbeat but for the time being you have to suck it up and push through. You do remember His Majesty saying to not be afraid to stand up against everyone but you would rather not cause any sort of conflict if you can help it, so it'll stay in the back of your mind until it's needed, which will hopefully be never. It's nice to know you already have support for practically anything, and plus one of them is coming from one of the best, that being the King.

~~~~~~~~~~~

It's a lot quieter. You seem to be the only one outside right now aside from the occasional other person. It's hard to tell what time of day it is due to there not really being a sun or moon and the sky never changing colour or brightness, so you don't know if to blame the emptiness on the fact if it's late or not. It is kind of nice, just walking in almost complete silence, but unfortunately, that enjoyable quiet is interrupted. Someone grabs your shoulder and yanks you around.

"Hey." Serran crosses her arms.

"Hello..."

"What's your problem? Huh? Interrupting me and Bonnie."

"It's not my fault he wanted to see me."

"I know but it's why he wants to see you. That's your fault."

"What do you mean?"

"You can see the look in his eye." She begins circling you. "There's only one reason he wants to see you. You're just so adorable and irresistible that he can't control himself. I've spent so long buttering him up and I will not let all that progress go to waste at the hands of a tiny human that doesn't belong here."

"I can't control what he thinks of me, Serran."

"But you can control your actions around him. Just be unappealing and he'll leave you alone, and everything will be perfect."

You shake your head. You haven't been trying to get anything from him, and you thought the way you were acting was already unappealing since you were just a nervous, stuttering mess. Serran puts her hands on your shoulders.

"You think Hell is a dream come true, don't you? Full of opportunities and sexy demons throwing themselves at you, all wanting a taste of that sweet skin." She pinches your cheek. "In some points that is right, especially since you've got the King eyeing you off, but there is a catch to all this..."

"W-what?"

Serran smiles and puts her hands on either side of your face. "I'll show you."

Her red eyes go black, along with everything else around you. A weird, indescribable feeling shoots through you while your knees begin to buckle as your vision blurs and darkens. Your ears ring with a high-pitched sound and you can feel yourself twitch and jerk around, something wrapping around your entire head. Spots of red flash everywhere as an overwhelming sense of cold hits you. So cold, it burns. All your senses go fuzzy and you finally collapse.

~~~~~~~~~~

Everything hits you at once as if your whole body and everything in it just reset. The smell is first to be noticed. It's disgusting and you instantly feel sick to your stomach as you imagine what that could be coming from. You hear screaming, high pitch and desperate like that of a child. Slowly you stand, trying not to fall over, and turn around only to scream while regretting everything. It's a room full of what could only be the corpses of... something. They are so mutilated, torn to shreds and splattered that it all becomes one giant pile of meaty flesh, drowned in crimson. A chunk of what seems to be what's left of destroyed organs falls from somewhere, making a loud wet splat as it collides with the blood ridden floor. You don't dare move. As your shaky eyes scan over the room you find out what the screaming is. A baby. It's in the center of the room, laying in a pool of blood, naked, and wriggling around as it cries out. It's supposed mother hangs upside down above it, suspended by two hooks through her feet. Her stomach is neatly and delicately cut open as if surgically done with a scalpel. Her face is relaxed with eyes pinned on you. You can't tell if she's alive or not. The baby keeps screaming and you can't take it anymore so you take one step forward, immediately hearing a squishy noise under your shoe. You ignore it and push through, being overcome by some sort of maternal instinct despite never having kids or ever wanting kids. Splashes, cracks and squishes emanate through the room with each of your steps, and you can feel your stomach twisting, gurgling but you ignore it. You kneel down next to the baby and gently pick it up. It wasn't dropped from where the mother hangs, it was placed down here, as if this whole thing was some sort of ritual. You start to cry as you shush it, rocking the baby back and forth, as your clothes get soaked in blood. Surprisingly, the baby calms down but you can't stop crying. You feel yourself sinking so you look down and see your in the middle of a pentagram which is starting to move, lighting up with flames.

"Leave the baby, and you'll live..." Something whispers in your ear.

You look at the baby, resting in your chest. You can't. The whole room shakes and you sink further down into the pentagram as it continues to get brighter.

"Leave the baby, and you'll live..."

A rope snakes in out of nowhere and wraps around your waist just as a hole opens up beneath you so you don't fall through.

"Leave the baby, and you'll live..."

Strange, robed figures appear around the pentagram as the piles of mangled corpse start to fall in the hole. They start to chant what was being whispered in your ear.

"Leave the baby and you'll live..."

They keep chanting, getting louder and louder as you continue to stare at the baby in your arms, snuggling into your chest. You can't.

"Casp..." You say. (Translation: No)

"Leave the baby, and you'll live!"

You frown and stare at what seems to be the leader and they stare right back. You feel the rope around you loosen. A voice in your head that is not your own says that if you fall in with the baby, you will be chosen as the sacrifice instead, nothing will happen to the baby if that happens. They all chant again and the pentagram reaches it maximum strength, violently spinning and glowing with hunger, waiting to have it's stomach filled.

"You'll die if you save that child." The leader says.

"Lay ga fla." (Translation: So be it)

You bite the rope until it snaps and you fall. The baby is grabbed by pure white hands and brought back up as you continue to fall. A sea of blood catches you with a splash and you start to sink down as chunks of flesh float past. You're vision goes black and you scream at the top of your lungs.

~~~~~~~~~~

You open your eyes and shoot up into a sitting position, heart beating out of your chest. You're back where you were before Serran did whatever she did to take you to whatever that was. You look down at yourself and find there isn't a speck of blood on you, throwing into question the realness of that whole experience. As you think about it, you start to cry again as the adrenaline wears off, leaving you vulnerable to the full horrific nature of it. Was that real? Even if it wasn't real, it was still awful and disgusting. You hug your knees to your chest and bury your face, not caring what time it is or if there's anyone around. Just give yourself a minute. Hopefully Serran is really gone and not just ducking out for a minute before coming back to torment you. She made her point, despite you already knowing it. Hell isn't a good place, who would've guessed. No one would come to Hell, expecting a bunch of sunshine and rainbows unless they've lost their mind, but that's why you stay in the area that isn't full of death, to avoid those places. You sit still and quietly cry to yourself for what feels like hours, though it could have very well been a couple minutes.

"Y/n!"

"Irreth!!"

You jump up and run to her, immediately getting a hug and crying even more.

"Where have you been? I was getting worried."

You merely cry into her shoulder so she lets you sit there for a while to let it all out.

"Irreth...it was awful!"

"What was?"

"I don't know! Serran came and sent me to a place. It...it was full of blood and guts. T-there was a baby and a woman. I fell in a pentagram and drowned in blood. I...I...I can't..." You cry.

Irreth nods, not completely understanding the sheer level of trauma that place held. She holds one of your hands while her other arm remains wrapped around you.

"Ok...well. How about we go home for now? Go to bed and rest, then tomorrow we'll try and figure it out what exactly happened, ok?"

You nod. "B-before or after work?"

"Y/n...you can't possibly be worrying about work right now. Stay home tomorrow."

"I can't. I-it'll be my second day and I need to distract myself."

Irreth sighs. "Don't make that decision just yet. Wait and see how you feel tomorrow."

You nod, getting a weird feeling as you start to feel weak but Irreth catches you before you fall down. She turns around and crouches down slightly, so she can put your arms around her neck, grabbing your legs so she can lift you up onto her back. She carries you all the way back to the apartment complex.

~~~~~~~~~~

All the way there, you continue to feel more and more sick as your stomach burns. After Irreth unlocks the door and steps inside you shove her forward and run to the bathroom, panicking. There is no pause. As soon as you collapse in front of the toilet, you vomit. It feels like all your organs are leaving your body. Irreth sits beside you with a glass of water and a wet cloth, as you stay hunched over the toilet, now feeling empty.

"You'll feel better now that it's out of your system." She holds the cloth to your forehead.

You groan and sip the water. This entire experience will be stuck in your head for a while, even if it stops bothering you. This can be considered as your first real taste of Hell. The truth maybe? Are you starting to regret coming here? A little, but you feel as if that you would say the same for not coming here. If you can avoid things like this in the future, then maybe it won't be so bad, besides everything else is fine. This was a one time thing, you can't let something that wasn't real spoil everything else for you. If it wasn't real. It wasn't. It can't have been. It was just some sort of dream made by Serran. If it was real, then you would be dead or at least covered in blood. And neither of those happened, so it wasn't real.

Right?


	7. Comfy

"Y/n, stay home today."

You sigh. "I can't. If I need to be picked up then I'll call you."

You shake the new phone Irreth got you but her expression doesn't change.

"I promise." You say.

"Your eyes are still red from crying and your shaking. You won't make it through your shift."

"But I can try."

Irreth huffs. "I guess there's no stopping you..."

She straightens your clothes and tells you not to push yourself, giving you one last hug before you leave. You try and give your best smile which she thankfully returns so you're able to leave a little easier. Your shift should be a breeze after what you went through.

~~~~~~~~~~

"I'm fine." You repeat.

There hasn't been a single person that hasn't asked what's wrong with you and every time you respond the same. It's very kind of them but it's starting to get to you and drain you since every time someone asks, you think about what happened yesterday. It's not even a panic thing anymore, you don't break down at the memories or anything. Maybe a tear or two will appear but that's it. Having to repeat this process for every single person is tiring so sometimes you have to duck into the bathrooms for a minute just to regain energy. You're trying to stay here for as long as possible because you feel determination to make it through the shift but it's getting harder by the second. It doesn't help that you're only half way through the day. You've spotted Serran a couple times, looking impatient, and luckily she hasn't noticed you yet. Aranik offered for you to take a nap in his office, which you denied, mainly due to knowing there was no point as you've always struggled to fall asleep on anything but a bed. Plus the look in his eyes just screamed danger.

~~~~~~~~~~

You walk out into where all the cubicles are and just sort of stand there, staring out into nothing. You know how dead you look right now, with red eyes, bags under your eyes and the hunching position but you don't really care.

"Good morning, Your Majesty." Someone says.

Your head looks to where that was said, which is the front entrance, and you remember that he said he would be visiting. Serran runs up to him but gets ignored. The King walks right up to you.

"Hello, Your Majesty." You say.

He stares at you for a moment. "Are you alright, my darling?"

"Yeah..." You try and smile. "Do you need me to do something?"

"I need you to tell me what's wrong."

Your eyes widen and you look away, mumbling about how it's nothing. You glance at Serran and see how angry she is. Her actions did her more harm than good in her quest to get His Majesty. He moves your face to look at him and you can feel yourself tear up as you stare at him. He grabs your wrist and starts to walk off somewhere.

"Your Majesty, there's no need. I-I'm sure you have more important things to be doing." You say.

"Nonsense." He pulls you into an empty room.

He closes and locks the door as you stand still with your eyes fixed on the floor.

"Darling...talk to me." He puts his hands on your shoulders. "What's bothering you?"

You whimper. "Where do I even start?

"At the beginning. Just tell me."

You mumble. "I-it was yesterday... When I was walking home Serran stopped me and sent me to this place - if it was even real - and...and...i-it was horrible."

"What did you see?"

You cover your face. "It was a room full of what I think was mutilated corpses. There was a woman hanging from her feet in the center and her baby was on the floor beneath her. I tried to help the baby and got stuck in the middle of a pentagram. I started sinking into it and these weird robed people kept saying if I leave the baby I would live. I-I couldn't bring myself to leave it so I became the sacrifice instead. I fell into a hole and into a sea of blood before I returned back to where I was before it all..."

You can't control yourself and begin to cry into your hands. Arms wrap around you, however. You aren't thinking straight so you merely except the hug from His Majesty, crying into him. The sweet scent of vanilla fills your nose as you bury your face into his smooth, silky top. So soft. So warm. His arms are delicately placed around your waist and upper back, one of his hands holding your head. He's strong but gentle. Your arms are around his lower back underneath his cape. You can't help but become enraptured by everything about him and sink closer to him. He's more huggable than you thought he'd be so you can sit in his arms comfortably. He's still unbelievably muscular, you can physically feel it in his chest, but the way he's holding you makes him seem so cuddly. You shouldn't be doing this. Though you keep repeating that in your mind, you refuse to move, especially when you feel His Majesty relax. You hadn't noticed how tense he was.

~~~~~~~~~~

Slowly, you stop crying, beginning to focus on His Majesty running his thumb up and down against the back of your head. He sighs and releases his grip slightly, so you're far enough away to see his face but he can still keep his arms around you.

"Feel better?"

You nod and he smiles, slightly tilting his head.

You bite your lip. "W-was it real?"

"No. Serran is able to shoot this...acid, essentially, through your body with a simple touch that makes you have extremely vivid hallucinations. You should've thrown that acid up by now."

You nod. "I did."

"Good."

You hum and look down.

"Why don't you go home, my darling?"

"I can't, Your Majesty. It's only my second shift and I promised myself I would make it through."

His Majesty tuts. "But look at yourself."

He caresses your cheek and you immediately get a tingly feeling as you feel heat come to your face. You catch a small smile from him.

"Why don't you come with me then?" He says. "No one can say you already took sick leave on your second day. No one can do anything."

Your heart rate picks up as you stare at him, half expecting him to say he was joking but the look on his face tells otherwise. He is dead serious.

"I-I can't, Your Majesty. I don't deserve that honor."

"Oh...yes you do..." He smiles.

You sharply inhale through your nose. Out of nowhere his voice will go way deeper then it already is and you are never prepared for it.

"H-how long will I be with you? I have a friend that I have to get back to."

"I'm sure you can tell her where you are and when you're on your way back home."

That's true.

"Just think of how much you'll be able to relax away from all this work and noise. Plus, we'll be able to get better acquainted."

His hand that's caressing your cheek gently pinches you, not enough to be painful, but enough to make you squeal. His Majesty fully releases you from the hug, only holding one of your hands.

"Well..?"

You nod slowly, not really knowing where's he's going to take you but at the same time not really caring. He smiles again and starts to lead you out of the room, still holding one of your hands.

"Aranik, miss y/n will be leaving early today at the command of me."

"Why?"

"We have things to discuss."

"Not even a week here and she's already got business with the King?"

Aranik glances at you before sighing and saying you can leave. You don't have work for the next two days after this shift so maybe that's why he's so upset. His Majesty doesn't give it a second thought and merely leaves with you following just behind. No Serran in sight.

~~~~~~~~~~

He never lets your hand go while walking and you never stop staring at them. People are giving weird looks of confusion since a nobody, human is already so close to the King. Plus it's without even trying. You don't see the appeal His Majesty seems to see in you but you aren't necessarily complaining, despite a certain part of you wanting to simply never talk to him again because you truly believe this is not something you deserve this quickly. The thought of this going too far constantly pops in and out of your mind while staring at His Majesty. His standards have to be too high for that to happen, hopefully.

"Hey." His Majesty waves his hand in front of your face.

You jump slightly and ping back to reality, only for that small panic to grow as you realise where you are. The King's house. He smiles and leads you inside even as you hesitate, standing stock still.

"Welcome back, Your Majesty." Ex says. "Hello, Miss y/n."

You wave and look around. The place isn't nearly as big as you thought it'd be - you noticed that outside - and it only seems to be this area that is really fancy. From the small amount of rooms that you can see, there are some that hold up to the expectations of the King's house, but one doesn't appear to be like that. It's through a partially open door and although you are far away you can notice a more homey vibe coming from that room. There doesn't seem to be any riches, it's slightly messy and not everything is plated in something fancy. Your shirt gets tugged and you snap back to reality once again.

"S-sorry, Your Majesty." You say.

"Don't be." You starts to walk with a smile on his face.

You follow while still gawking at everything, not knowing where he's taking you. Aranik kind of had a point when he noted that you haven't even been a full week here and you've already gotten so many honors from the King. It's too fast but Ex did say that, that's how it is with him. You haven't yet properly realised how lucky you've been.

~~~~~~~~~~

You follow His Majesty through a door and panic yet again since it's a bedroom but as you look around, it seems to be a mini house, strangely. The very left of the room has a small kitchen, to the right there's an open door to an office and there's a small area for what seems to be reading - as evident from the bookshelf and chair - next to that door. To the right of the bed on the back wall is another door - closed but probably a bathroom - and to the left is an archway to a sunken lounge. There's a lot of red and silk. It also is a lot more homey and you feel like you're allowed to relax here since the fear of breaking something is non-existent. Everything is relatively tidy aside from one or two things out of place but His Majesty keeps walking to the lounge so you quickly follow before you zone out staring at everything again.

"So, now that we can properly have a conversation, talk to me." He sits on the couch and pulls you down next to him.

"A-about what, Your M-Majesty?"

"Anything you'd like."

You stutter and shrug as he puts his arm along the top of the chair so it's partially around you.

"Not much of a talker, I presume?"

"Not really." You say quietly.

"But you've already got a friend that you're living with."

"I don't know, Irreth was just easy to talk to and it felt natural so i-it was fine." You look away.

"Hm." He scoots closer. "Do you think you'll make more friends in the future?"

"I don't know. I don't think so." You start to relax for some reason. "I mean, I've already got someone who doesn't like me and can they can tip the scales against me."

You don't know why you're getting so personal all of a sudden, nor why you're leaning towards His Majesty. You just feel comfortable to do so, for no reason.

"If Serran tries to do anything with the power of being your boss's daughter, I will sort it out, my darling."

You look at him. "W-wait, no. I-it's ok, Your Majesty. It's fine. You don't need to worry about anything."

He tuts. "I know Serran and I know how far she goes sometimes. I will help you, darling. I don't know how the royalty on Earth is, but I'm willing to protect a sweet little thing like you."

You stare at him and mumble as he puts the hand behind your head on your shoulder, holding you closer to him.

"Why don't you come to the ball tomorrow night?" He asks. "So you can actually have a nice time."

"Will you be there?"

"Of course. You can be my special little guest." He smiles. "And you can bring your friend Irreth as well."

"I-I think about it... Your Majesty." You look down.

He chuckles. "Good. So how about we talk about something more lighthearted?"

You nod but keep your gaze to the floor as a means of hiding the smile on your face. The shift in mood was so sudden but a welcomed one, and you don't even panic when he moves your head to be on his shoulder. It's nice. Sometimes the fact that this is the actual King himself will hit you but when it's not doing so, you feel safe. Though you don't know what you're getting yourself into, you don't particularly care as of right now. Maybe this is all a bad decision but a small part of you doesn't think so. It's too relaxing and enjoyable to be a bad thing. You feel good...

You feel happy.


	8. Ballroom

Irreth bathes her face in makeup as you fiddle with your jewelry next to her in the mirror. She was so excited when you came home saying that you've both been invited to the ball, happening soon. She also mentioned how it's a bit more casual than on Earth.

"Alright, lets go." Irreth skips to the door.

You follow while still adjusting your clothes, kind of feeling nervous for some reason. Maybe it's because the King is attending but it could also be the thought of dancing with someone. Maybe it's both of those mixed together. It's too late to go back now so you suppress everything and close the door behind you as you leave. Irreth seems very excited about it since, occasionally, you'll have to jog up to her so you don't lag behind. She knows exactly where the place is, but it isn't some fancy high-class mansion, rather it's in a place she calls the 'downstairs' of Hell which admittedly, causes some worry to brew inside you. It's kind of strange that His Majesty would be attending if it's what you're imagining. Irreth has explained that there are different levels in Hell, going from where you are at the top, down, and this place is on the level just below the top one. What those levels contain, she did not say.

~~~~~~~~~~

Irreth grabs your arm to pull you out of the weird portal you had to go through to get to this level. You get shivers as it lets you go, black mist slipping off your torso and legs, and you stand still for a moment so you can regain your balance. Irreth continues walking, mentioning that you'll get used to that feeling. You mumble and catch up, looking around to try and see the difference between this level and yours. Not much is the answer from what you can see. The sky is the only notable difference since it's completely black with nothing in it, no clouds, no sun, no moon, no stars, no nothing but despite that, everything is seemingly being lit by something. It's not bright by any means but something is illuminating everything, making it look like permanent night time with moonlight. You don't bother asking for an explanation and merely go with it, paying attention to everything on the ground. It's all the same from the buildings to the inhabitants so it looses your interest quickly. You're not left unoccupied for long, however, since you arrive at your destination. It's not a big building as it seems that it's only purpose is to hold these types of gatherings, but it is still swarmed by what you suspect are people's vehicles and others waiting around for something. Irreth goes straight to the door with you just behind and opens it dramatically, the noise inside instantly ringing out. It is slightly fancy but you can tell this event reaches out to any common person - Irreth and yourself being an exception since you got invited by His Majesty. You get stopped by a big burly man, however.

"I don't remember you two." He says, voice booming.

"We got invited by His Majesty himself." Irreth explains. "Tell him, y/n."

She drags you out from behind her and as soon as the guy sees your face he steps aside, letting you both pass. You look around once deeper into the building, not really knowing what you're looking for but unfortunately, you spot something you didn't want to see. Serran is standing with Aranik beside her, in a group of very wealthy seeming people. One of them has a badge that says 'pol' (Translation: Host) on it so they probably got in here from that guy. You see a balcony of sorts at the back of the room with two stairs leading up to it on either side and you suspect that's where His Majesty will be.

~~~~~~~~~~

"Who do you think will dance with you?" Irreth elbows you.

"No one, hopefully."

"What do you mean 'hopefully'?" She crosses her arms.

"There's a lot of reasons."

She shakes her head while you stare out at the crowd. You catch Serran glaring at you for a second, anger already boiling inside her but she looks away shortly after you notice her. That's not what gets you nervous, however. It's the fact you can see some people eyeing you off, is what's scaring you. Irreth is getting the same treatment but she's returning the look to them so you're just left to hope that nobody gets too confident and waltzes over to you. You don't know why you're making such a big deal out of it but you are and can't stop, even with Irreth giving you encouraging words. In fact, you're so caught up in your thoughts about it, you don't even notice the room go quiet for a moment and the atmosphere change. Your back is to the balcony and it's only when Irreth hits your arm and points that you turn around, immediately seeing what caused the subtle stir in the room.

"Glad you could come, my darling." His Majesty walks up to you. "Dee ron lalo." (Translation: You look gorgeous)

Instead of grabbing your hand like he normally does, he leans to your face and kisses your cheek, making you do nothing but stutter a small 'Rata dee', making him chuckle.(Translation: Thank you) You can already hear small whispers around you from everyone.

"I suppose this is your friend you briefly spoke about?" He looks at Irreth.

"Irreth Ka, Your Majesty." She bows her head down slightly. "It's an honour."

He nods slowly and turns his attention back to you, while you merely stare at all his fancy jewelry. Irreth puts one hand on your back.

"You're free to take her, Your Majesty." She says. "Make her feel a bit more comfortable here."

With that she shoves you forward, making you go face first into His Majesty's chest as he catches you. You jump backwards and glare at her.

"Irreth!" You exclaim.

All she does is wave and smile before walking away, leaving you in the King's arms. You shake your head and apologize but he doesn't seem to care since all he does is grab your hands to pull you towards the stairs to the balcony. You can feel Serran's glare burn the side of your face as you follow the King and you fight off every urge to look back at her. You can already tell she's jealous and her wanting you dead level going up. What are you supposed to do though?

~~~~~~~~~~

As soon as you sit on the couch on the balcony, you relax. It's not as comfortable as the one in his house but it's better than everything else, nonetheless. Almost immediately, you spot Irreth seemingly flirting with some guys so you can't help but smile and shake your head, getting a very strange question in your head.

"When does the dancing start, Your Majesty?" You ask.

"Uh, soon I believe, but it's ultimately up the the host." He says. "Why?"

You nod as Irreth makes eye contact with you and fans herself with her hand as she sticks her tongue out, looking at a man with his back to her. You give her a thumbs up before turning to His Majesty.

"Irreth." You say in response to him.

He chuckles slightly. "Will you be down there with someone?"

You look at him suddenly. "W-what? N-no. I... Can't dance."

He nods slowly, in a way that says he doesn't believe you in an amusing way. You bite your lip and look away.

"Will you be down there, Your Majesty?" Ex pipes up from behind.

You look at him and he gives you a quick wink that says he'll get His Majesty back for making you nervous.

"No. I only dance with someone I want to dance with." His Majesty swings an arm over the couch to properly face Ex.

"Why not? It's been so long since you've done it. Don't want all your dancing classes going to waste, now do we?"

"You did dancing class?" You say before you can stop yourself.

"Partner dancing to be specific. It was one of the many mandatory classes I had to do."

You nod, noticing how casual The King sounds while talking to - or with - Ex. You're also confused by what he means by classes as as far as you know he never was really a child or prince. He was always King. Right?

"And you loved every second of it." Ex says.

The King scoffs. "No I didn't. The only class I liked was the Flay-don one."

"Uh-huh." He tilts his head as His Majesty turns back around in his seat.

"Don't make me come back there, Ex."

You cover your mouth to stop a small giggle as Ex chuckles.

~~~~~~~~~~

The mood in the whole room shifts as the music changes and everyone moves to create room for a dance floor, only some remaining with their partners. You instantly dart you eyes around to spot Irreth and find her waiting to be asked by someone, particularly the guy she was eyeing off before since she's staring at him. As the music picks up the dancing starts, already looking beautiful and smooth. You look to the King and see him just as mesmerised as you are, staring out into the crowd. You notice his hand resting right next to him on the seat, clenched into a tight fist, his other hand holding his head up. For some bizarre reason, you get this horrible idea but before you can actually think about it and stop yourself from doing it, you're already reaching for his hand. Very gently, you grab it and surprisingly, all he does is open it so you can hold it properly, barely reacting. The rings on his fingers are gorgeous and a part of you wonders why he doesn't wear this type of jewellery all the time as it would add to his elegance. His claws aren't as sharp as you first thought they would be but you can tell if he applies the right amount of pressure, they can do some serious damage. You start to push your thumbs into his palm for some reason as you zone out, only the music remaining in your consciousness.

~~~~~~~~~~

You don't pay attention to how long you sit there, massaging his hand, but all of a sudden he removes it from your grasp so he can place it on your cheek.

"You know..." He starts. "We can leave if you want to."

"B-but we both practically got here. Wouldn't that seem o-odd?" You resist the urge to sink into his hand.

"No one will bat an eye. We can spend time together in a more comfortable environment for a while and then I'll walk you home."

He tilts his head, waiting for you to answer but you get a sudden weird feeling, like you just drank something and you can feel the liquid go down your body, then spreading throughout. With this strange sensation all you can think of is saying yes, but you still have some coherent thoughts.

"C-can I go talk to Irreth first? So I'm not just getting up and leaving out of nowhere."

"Of course, my darling."

You get up as he watches you and quickly head down the stairs, seeing Irreth leaning on some railing, looking bored. She notices you instantly.

"Done with His Majesty?" She asks.

"No. Um, he's asked me to go home with him for a while and I just wanted to tell you."

She stares at you for a moment, not looking very impressed. "Y/n, what did I say about being careful and not giving him wrong ideas?"

"Says the one who shoved me into him."

"Couldn't resist." She smiles. "But when I do something, he doesn't care, but if you do something then he cares. Like say if you hugged him without me pushing you, that would've made a huge difference. But it doesn't matter since you've done something to trigger him into wanting you on your own."

You bite your lip. "Alright...so I can go without any objections from you about being careful?"

"There's a difference between being smart and being careful. Being smart means not refusing him since when he asks, he's really just telling, and being careful means making sure you don't come home pregnant. Ok?" She half smiles.

You nod and start to walk backwards.

"Have fun, peef!"

You wave and race back up the stares. The King is now standing, leaning on the handrail of the balcony and staring at the now full dance floor but his attention quickly shifts to you. He doesn't say anything but instead merely steps over to you and puts a hand on your shoulder to direct you to the door behind the couch, leading out of this place. He tells Ex to watch over everything before leaving with you.

You have no idea why you're doing this.


	9. Your Desire

"I made sure to not come home pregnant, so you have to do the same."

"Yeah, yeah." Irreth shifts her dress. "No promises."

You shake your head. She's gotten her wish and now has a date with the guy she was eyeing off at the ball, named Thar' Enos, so she's been beautifying herself a little more than usual all day in preparation. She checks herself in the mirror for the millionth time before grabbing her tiny bag and turning to you.

"If I do get a little surprise in nine months, I'm sure it'll be fine. You'd be a great babysitter." She smiles.

You narrow your eyes at her. "Like hell I'll be. Your baby, your responsibility."

Irreth giggles and turns to the door. "You know if you do get with His Majesty, you're going to have to have kids. You know, to carry on the monarchy?"

"I doubt it'll go that far - plus I don't even think he can have kids with me."

She gives you a look for a quick second before waving and leaving. You sigh and walk backwards until you feel your bed behind you, in which you then collapse onto.

~~~~~~~~~~~

You still have that strange sensation in your body you suddenly got yesterday, just after the King asked if you wanted to leave, and now that you're alone it's getting stronger - possibly due to you focusing on it. It's not necessarily a bad feeling nor a good one, but you're not enjoying it either way so you take a deep breath and sit up, telling yourself to merely ignore it and that it'll go away by itself. As soon as you stand, however, your struck with an immense dizziness, vision getting splotches of black that quickly spreads so you soon can't see anything. Due to your ability to see leaving and the distortion in your brain happening so quickly, your body panics, causing you to simply fall to the floor as if needing to grip onto something solid to ground yourself. Your eyes are open but it's all black as if they were closed and not just in a dark room. You start to hear whispers as you lay paralyzed on the floor but there are so many looping over each other that you can't make a single one out. Plus they're speaking in Enrata so you'd have to let your brain translate for a second. Your memory begins to flash to when Serran made you hallucinate that certain place so you wonder if this is something similar, but the issue would then be who or what did this to you. You aren't even scared strangely - just curious. In fact you're getting kind of bored right now since you've been stuck like this for a while with nothing happening. Whatever is doing this to you must be able to read your thoughts, however, since your vision starts to return to you, along with the ability to move.

~~~~~~~~~~

You're not in the apartment. You're not really anywhere right now since it all appears to be a void aside from the strange light above you. You sit up and look to your right. There's seven doors lined up next to each other with a strange unique symbol on each, glowing different colours. The whispers persist but now seem to be emanating from each door. Going from left to right, the colours are: Violet, green, orange, blue, red, yellow and light blue. All the doors slam open suddenly with the whispers stopping, leaving you in complete silence. You gulp and slowly start to walk forward, going for the blue one right in the middle, for no real reason. As soon as you enter, the door closes behind you.

"Good choice." Something whispers in your ear.

On instinct, you spin around but are greeted by nothing - not even the door.

"You're so tense..." The whisper is behind you again, right in your ear. "Relax."

You take a deep breath and do what your told, letting your shoulders drop.

"Good...good." Something touches you. "Now...I know what you desire and I will help you get it. It's not as hard as you think."

"What do I want?" You ask as something wraps around your waist and legs.

It chuckles. "You know exactly what it is."

You hear something behind you so you turn around, immediately gasping and covering your mouth. There stands the King, shirtless, with his mouth slightly open so you can see his tongue glowing just the same as his eyes, which are pinned on you. There's some strange static around him, so you suspect this isn't the real King and merely an hallucination.

"This is what you want." The whisper returns. "Just think how satisfying he'll be for you."

Something hits you and you suddenly feel different as if you've lost control of yourself, stepping forward as you do.

"So many have tried to get him and none have succeeded but you are different. I'll help you get what you want. To touch, to feel, to taste, to explore him. Just imagine how good it'll be."

You get in front of him and can already smell his vanilla.

"He'll give you the satisfaction you need inside and out. Plus more."

Spurts of dark red fire appear around you, leaving nothing but still pictures in their spots. You look around to examine them. Some have you wearing a crown with a big smile on your face, some have you in a loving embrace with His Majesty and some have him on-top of you in bed, giving you a deep desire. You stare at each one as your breath picks up along with your heart rate.

"You wanted a better life and he can give you the best." The voice changes in an indescribable way, somehow sounding enticing. "Think of all the gaps in your previous life that can be fulfilled so easily by him - and only him. The love, the pleasure, the warmth, the care. Everything you lacked can be restored. The reason you came here. The reason you weren't happy before. Everything can be fixed if you follow your desire."

The still images begins to move, turning into short videos. You see yourself being crowned the new Queen of Hell and you see yourself being comforted by His Majesty in times of hardship, all of them ending in a sincere smile from both him and you before restarting. They linger on those smiles, however, so you have no choice but to think about them. The life you could have. That smile could be on your real face and on his.

~~~~~~~~~~

"Such a simple task, and with my help, an effortless one. All your dreams can come true in an instant. You can have all that you want."

You look back at His Majesty. He's still staring at you with eyes full of sexual needs.

"Touch him. Have a taste. It won't be as good as the real one but I can help with that."

He moves for the first time and so do you. You wrap your arms around his neck as he puts his around your waist and not a single second is spared since you immediately begin to kiss him, a comforting warm sensation instantly going through your body. He doesn't seem to hold back since his hands slip under your shirt as he deepens the kiss, forcing his tongue in your mouth. From what you can feel, it's no ordinary tongue, it's slim and long with the ability to twist or move in very flexible ways.

"Think of how good the real one will be. He'll fill you with what you need. You'll be so happy. He'll be so happy. The perfect match."

His Majesty's hands continue to travel around you, going further underneath your clothes, as you start to feel your knees grow weak, only being supported by his arms. His big, strong arms. You're eyes are now closed and you start to hear what could only be the audio from the floating videos. It's all happy laughing and "I love you"s. The whisper seemingly stops so you're left to be fully enraptured by His Majesty without any distraction. He starts to lean forward, however, and due to the weakness in your legs, it doesn't take much for you to collapse with him falling with you.

~~~~~~~~~~

You fall onto a soft surface but as soon as you make contact with it, your eyes open and you wrench upwards into a sitting position, aggressively coughing. You roll over and fall off whatever you were on, hitting something hard while gasping for air. You stay still for a moment before sitting up, finding yourself back in the apartment. You shake your head and quickly get up but unfortunately, you scream due to a severe burning sensation on the inside of your chest. You run to the bathroom and rip your button up shirt open, just as the pains stops. There, on your chest, is a blue symbol, the same that was on the door you entered. You rub your hand over it. The skin is slightly raised along the lines and it seems to be embedded into you so your stuck with it. You stare at it for a long time for some reason as you breath heavily. Slowly, you begin to feel like your loosing control of your body again while your mind is filled with images of the King. Bonnie. You inhale sharply as you think of his name. You've never said it or thought of it since it's like a forbidden word unless given special permission. It has a nice ring to it though and it's rarity between voices makes it all the better. You kind of get why Serran calls him that now, despite him hating it, since just the mere thought of it makes you feel special. No one is allowed to call him by his name so saying it gives this strange rush of dopamine, maybe due to breaking a rule, even though its technically just decency to say Your Majesty. It's like swearing at a young age. You know it's wrong and that's what makes it so good. Maybe it's just because your brain is not functioning correctly right now. You leave the bathroom, stumbling around as if highly intoxicated, and somehow manage to make it to your bed. You just want go to sleep, although saddened that you'll be doing it alone. You have work tomorrow - that much you know - and you'll most likely be seeing His Majesty again. You'll talk to him just like you always do whether Serran likes it or not. He'll kiss your hand. He'll touch you. Love you. Just as you do to him. Love. Love. Love. It's what you lacked. You don't want to lack it anyone. You need it. You abandoned everything just to fill to multiple holes in your life and in yourself. You fall face first into your pillow while tears suddenly fall down your cheeks.

You want to be loved.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How many people know what those colours and symbols represent?


	10. Satisfied

You stare at the ceiling. Irreth hasn't returned yet and it's almost time for your shift to begin which means she got up to no good with her date last night. You sigh and sit up, not really remembering what happened yesterday until you take your shirt off to change into your work clothes and see the symbol still on your chest. You don't panic, however, nor really care even as you remember all the little details, instead you merely huff and continue changing. Your numb to the thought of bumping into His Majesty right now as you neither feel excited or scared or anything in between about the possibility. You do want to see him though, it's just that you don't feel anything alongside that want. If anything, you kind of want him to be happy to see you. Maybe that's selfish, but your struggling to control your thoughts right now so you can't correct your mental behavior. As you let your mind wonder, you realise it doesn't shift focus off of him no matter how hard you try and if your thoughts do move, he's always somehow incorporated into it. You close your eyes and try to imagine a simple cube by itself, but all you can picture is him sitting on it with his shirt slightly unbuttoned more than usual. You quickly shake your head, as if trying to physically fling it out of your mind, before grabbing your things and heading out the door, hoping it will leave by itself. Maybe it will, maybe it won't. Maybe you have to do something to stop it. You don't know.

~~~~Time Skip~~~~

You walk down one of the hallways, carrying a stack of paper, while disappointment looms over you. You've gotten through roughly three-quarters of your shift and no sign of the King. Even Serran seems upset by it from the few times you saw her starring blankly out of windows, trying to see if he shows up.

"You alright, my lovely?"

You snap out of your daydreaming and turn to Aranik. "I-I'm fine."

"You sure? You seem a little down."

"It's nothing. Promise." You keep walking but he grabs your shoulders.

"Y/n...tell me what's wrong." He tightens his grip.

"Nothing." You yank free. "I'm sorry but I'm in a rush with these so, if you'll excuse me."

You hurry away, not caring about his unhappy expression. You don't know if he saw right through that lie or he just wanted to talk to you longer but you don't care either way. All you do is quicken your pace to your destination which is the basement to drop off the blank papers into the weird, insanely complex printer of sorts.

~~~~~~~~~~

You constantly check over your shoulder, all the way until you've shut the door behind you and are halfway down the stairs. It's cold and really quiet. You don't bask in this, however, and simply rush over to the little tray for the paper to go.

"Oh you are here, my darling!"

You stiffen up and whip your head to the direction of the voice. There he is. He's got a small bag full of files which explains why he's down here. You don't think about that though since you get the feeling of loosing control of your body yet again, especially since this is the real one.

"Unfortunately, you've caught me at a busy time since I have to go shortly."

You walk over to him, ravishing in his gorgeous voice and looks, while a slight pain in your chest grows.

"Do it." Something whispers in your ear.

You do. Without even thinking, you wrap your arms around his lower back and snuggle into his chest. He's taken aback for a short second but quickly returns your gesture, humming contently in his perfectly deep voice. You close your eyes and tighten your grip.

"Are you alright, my darling?" He asks.

"I am now."

He chuckles. "What was bothering you beforehand?"

"Not being with you."

You aren't controlling your words in some way. You're aware of what you're saying but you still can't stop yourself, as if the filter from thoughts to mouth or body has disappeared, letting awful ideas become a reality. His Majesty pulls back from the hug so he can see your face but he keeps his arms around you.

"Your acting differently today, aren't you?" He grins.

Something thumps against the inside of your chest - it wasn't your heart - and you move your arms up so they're around his neck.

"No... I'm just saying what I've always wanted to say."

"Oh really?" His voice deepens.

You nod and smile. "Of course. Who doesn't want to be in your...enticing presence?"

He pulls you closer. "A lot actually, but I only really care about a select few people who want that from me."

"I hope I'm one of them."

"You're the only one."

You both smile at each other. You notice a very faint, dull glow coming from his mouth, only noticeable if your as close as you are to him.

You get another thump in your chest. "But, Your Majesty, I'm nothing special. I'm not high-class, famous, well liked or anything. I'm just little me. Surely a nobody human doesn't deserve such an honor from you - the King."

"Nonsense, my sweetheart." He shakes his head. "Being a man surrounded by the harshness of Hell, I've got a thing for cute, precious little things and you are just the embodiment of all of those."

You nod, getting kind of confused at his pet name. It's always been darling - not sweetheart.

"Don't you think you deserve something more though?" You tilt your head.

"No. I deserve what I want," He tightens his grip on your waist, "and I want you."

"Good to know we're on the same page."

He chuckles and darts his eyes over to a clock before talking. "Tell you what. After your shift ends come to my place - I'll be free by then - and then we can...continue our conversation. Alright?"

You nod.

"Good girl."

He kisses your forehead before letting you go and leaving, you merely gawking at him as he walks. You don't move for a long time as the thumping and pain in your chest stops at the cost of you falling to the floor after getting dizzy. Thankfully, that's as far as it goes, so you don't pass out and can easily get back up after a short moment. Your mind spins as you walk up the stairs and all you do is stumble to the changing rooms so you can hide, planning on doing nothing until your shift ends.

~~~~Time Skip~~~~

No one seemed to care about your hiding and neither did you since all you did when your shift ended was waltz out the building without any fear of being stopped or questioned. Now your in front of His Majesty's house, having to fight off very sudden blackouts. Your hand is hovering near the door bell after one that you couldn't stop and it doesn't take long for you to know if you already pressed it during it or not since the door opens.

"Hello, y/n." Says Ex. "Here to see His Majesty I presume?"

"Yes."

He steps aside, allowing you in. "He's just upstairs in his room."

You nod. "Thank you."

You rush up the stairs and down the hallway until you're in front of his door, which you quickly knock on.

"Come in!" You hear.

You open the door and pop your head through first, followed by the rest of your body. His Majesty is sitting on his bed with some sort of laptop on his lap but it quickly gets tossed onto the floor when he sees you, a large smile appearing on his face as he beckons you over. You do as your told and step closer so your standing next to the bed but he simply pulls you down onto it. It's soft and comfortable, with the sheets being made of silk. You notice that he has his shirt unbuttoned a lot more than usual as well. Normally he has one - maybe two - buttons undone but now he has about four and it's purposely parted to reveal more of his chest.

"Now..." He flicks his hand, making some black mist wraps around it before the sound of the door shutting and locking grabs your attention. "Let us finish our conversation."

He grabs your face to make you face him before he caresses your cheek. You let yourself sink into his hand, eyes closing and your own hand holding his to your face.

"I'd like that." You say.

He chuckles. "Well, you should've told me about this earlier."

"But I didn't think you felt the same, Your Majesty." You open one eye.

"Oh please. Call me Bonnie..." He grins and leans closer.

Your eyes widen for a second but as another thump hits your chest, you move closer and grip his collar, making the unbuttoned part of his top separate even more. That small glow in his mouth has gotten brighter. He tenderly puts his arms around your waist and pulls you closer, so one of your legs is now on his. His face is also a lot closer to yours, with almost no space in between your mouths.

"I don't know if I can do this." You say with another thump. "There's so many things that can act as a consequence to this. I shouldn't do this. I can't."

"Shhh." He puts one hand on the back of your head. "Maybe you can't, but I definitely can."

You manage to get a small gasp out before he kisses you. Right on the lips. Not a small one. The thumping and pain in your chest immediately gets stronger but you don't even care as all you can focus on is him. It doesn't feel the same as when you were making out with the hallucination version of him. It's so much better. As you kiss back you can smell his signature vanilla and you can taste strawberries. He leans forward slightly and you grip his shirt even tighter. You can tell how happy he is at your interest by how he moves. As you sink further into the kiss, you move your hands over his chest and to his shoulders, feeling his every part of his physique. All his muscles, all his strength. Everything's perfectly shaped, everything about him is perfect. How he smells, how he feels, how he touches you, how you can hear is husky, deep voice as he breathes. The feeling gets stronger so your mind gets fuzzy and you start to blackout, knowing only him.

~~~~~~~~~~

Very suddenly, you snap back to reality and your vision returns, making you twitch due to panic. Your laying down, still on the bed, with him now on top of you. The bed is unbelievably comfortable and you sink into it perfectly but you can't fully enjoy it right now since you have more important things going on. You push him away from your face, so he's upright and only sitting on you.

"What's wrong?" He says, out of breath with lust dripping off his deep voice.

You merely stare at him. His shirt is now completely unbuttoned so you can see his abs, he is no longer wearing his crown or cape and he just isn't as tidy as he normally is - not that you're complaining.

"I-I...I don't know." You squeak out. "Never mind..."

He chuckles. "Good girl."

He reaches up to a fancy rope hanging from the top of the bed and when he pulls it down, the curtains on the canopy bed fall down so their surrounding the bed, almost leaving you both in complete darkness. His eyes are glowing like usual but there's a similar glow coming from his mouth, and you find out what's making it. His tongue. Just like the hallucination. You don't get time to inspect since he leans back down and licks your neck, slipping his hand under your shirt. You whimper as another blackout happens and when you come to, you find yourself naked. Your legs are spread and he's hovering above you, breathing heavily with his glowing tongue slightly handing out his mouth.

"Ashto...?" He says. (Translation: Ready)


	11. Cat And Mouse

Everything is weird. A good weird that is. You're so comfortable and relaxed that even as you properly wake up, you don't realise where you are. The only thing that catches your attention is an odd feeling in your chest - where the symbol was. Since your laying on your side, your chest is sort of squished, making that area feel more sore than it should but the pain is moving, seemingly outlining the symbol. It's almost as if something is crawling around inside you. You're more confused by it than concerned, until it speeds up and begins sending sudden, painful sensations around your body, as if you're being stabbed by thousands of needles at the speed of light. It gets faster and faster.

"Your welcome... Now you may enjoy, by yourself, and without my shadow around you." Something whispers in your ear - the same whisper that was in that certain door.

As soon as it stops talking, you shoot up into a sitting position, letting out a gasp while you regain complete control of your mind and body, reverting back to your normal self. The influence of whatever that was is now gone.

~~~~~~~~~~

Due to you now being fully awake and not under any control, everything hits you at once. Every single thing. You're butt naked, in the King's room, in his bed, with your clothes messily scattered around on the floor. With your heart thumping against your chest, widened eyes and overall panic, you very slowly look to your left as your breath picks up, making you lightheaded. You smack a hand over your mouth as your worst fear is confirmed. There, laying next to you, is the King. Fast asleep, thankfully, and presumably naked as well since when you peer over the edge of the bed on his side, you find his clothes in the same condition your ones were in. You cover your face while repeating how this is all a bad dream in your head as you let yourself calm down, even if slightly, so you can act in the best way. What the best way is, you don't really know. There are many choices and many consequences for each, making you panic as you feel as if you're running out of time since the King can wake up at any moment. That's one of the options - waking him up - but it's also the scariest. You look down at him, while questioning if it's the more mature option above just simply leaving, and find yourself raising a hand above him to shake him awake. All the confidence that let you do that instantly shatters, however, when he stirs in his sleep and rolls over to be facing you. After smacking your hand to your chest, you freeze, now hoping he won't wake up as the thought of leaving is all you want to do. This is the first time you've legitimately been afraid of him strangely. You've been intimated, slightly sacred and nervous, but now you feel like it would be the end of the world if he wakes up. You probably deserve it too.

~~~~~~~~~~

When His Majesty shows no signs of waking up, you very slowly start to get out of the bed, making sure to make little movements to limit the sound. You grab your clothes and get dressed, always keeping one eye on him since you're worried you'll just look at him randomly and he'll be staring into your soul. The shoes remain off, however, so you simply hold them while tiptoeing to the door, all your hair standing on edge as you have your back to him. You turn the lock and wince at the sound before slowly opening the door, letting out a sigh of relief when it doesn't make any noise. After one last look at the King, you close the door. Now you can make haste and jog your way to the front door, praying that Ex isn't up, all while your mind races about so many things. Questions constantly sprout in your head and all you can do is start to cry. Even after getting outside, putting your shoes on and running, you still break down like something followed you out of that house, coming to haunt you. The worse part is, is that it's probably true. You slept with His Majesty so you're going to pay the price one way or another and its all because you couldn't fight off that thing that was possessing you. You've ruined your life here. Stupid.

~~~~~~~~~~

You don't stop running until you get home, but that movement is the only thing that stops since your mind is still going at light speed. You burst the the door with tears still falling down your face and Irreth yelps at your sudden entrance before dropping whatever she's doing to rush to you as you stumble into the apartment.

"Oh my Lellella, Y/n! What the Hell happened?! Where have you been?! W-what..?! Y/n!" She blurts out.

You cry into her shoulder. "I messed up, Irreth!! I ruined everything!!"

"What do you mean?! What happened?!"

You sob. "I don't know!! I-it was just a room and a whisper. I lost control. A-a symbol on my chest. I-it made me do things and now I did a stupid thing!!!"

Irreth huffs and shakes you. "Y/n, get it together. I can't help you when your saying nonsense. Now tell me what happened!"

You stop and take some deep breaths before talking. "Yesterday, a-after you left I passed out and woke up in front of seven doors. I went into the one with a blue symbol and the whisper in there told me so many things. Showed me so many things. All while I was kissing a hallucination of His Majesty. When I came back the symbol was on my chest and I lost control of my actions. At work, I talked to the real His Majesty and said so many stupid things, expressing how much I loved him, a-and he told me to come to his house after my shift was done...I did and...and...w-we...I..."

You break down crying again but Irreth gets what your trying to say so all she does is hug you, letting you sob for as much as you need.

~~~~~~~~~~

"I'm sorry." You say.

"Why?"

"I'm such an idiot. I ruined everything. Any chance I had down here is gone now." You wipe your eyes.

"Um, I don't see how you've ruined your chances but don't call yourself an idiot. You were clearly possessed by something so it wasn't your fault."

"I had sex with the King, Irreth! There has to be so many consequences to that. I-I mean now what do I do? Just go back like everything will be fine? I can't do that!"

"Y/n...shut up. His Majesty was seemingly up to it, judging by how he asked you his place and not the other way round, so he obviously has something with you. I know that I've said that there have been bad rumors - and that's true - it is a worrisome thing being with or close to him, but of you look past all that, then you've got it all wrong. If His Majesty does truly love you then your set for life. Yes, there will be consequences and bad things will happen, but you'll have him behind you, helping you."

"What are the rumors?"

"Look, don't worry about that right now. We need to figure out what to do right now and-"

"Hide me." You cut her off.

"What?"

"Help me hide from him."

"I don't think that's the best wa-"

"Please, Irreth!" You grip her top. "I can't face him!"

She gives you a stern look before huffing. "Fine. But it's on your head if he catches you avoiding him."

"Thank you."

~~~~~~~~~~

Irreth shakes her head. "I suppose you want to stay home?"

You nod as she stands up. You know you promised yourself to try and make it to work as much as possible but with this situation, you find it difficult to latch onto any proper line of thinking aside from just hiding from the King.

"Well that's good, because your shift started an hour ago." She turns around. "And - as a bonus - I'm pretty sure His Majesty knows that you live here so go hide in the bathroom if there's a knock. I'll handle it."

Yours eyes widen for a second but the sense of panic subsides as you realise that it's obvious he would know since he walked you to the building that one time and could simply ask someone to get the room number. Now you feel numb. Everything has slowed right down and your brain hasn't properly done the same but is trying to, so you're left with nothing but confusing thoughts and emotions. Irreth makes jazz hands to your bed so you finally get up and rush to it, immediately crawling into it to get comfortable. She laughs and goes back to what she was doing before your dramatic entrance, while you stare at the ceiling, a sudden feeling of tiredness hitting you. Despite what you did and the aftermath, starting from when you woke up, happening barely even an hour ago, you aren't really bothered about it right now. Maybe it's because all your energy was sucked up by sprinting here and then bawling your eyes out, so the sense of worry coupled with fear will return quickly, especially if you're resting. You sigh as your eyelids get heavy surprisingly, even though you aren't in the mood for sleep but just like everything else, you can't fight it and fall asleep.

~~~~Snoozies~~~~

You wake up suddenly as Irreth shakes you.

"Guess who's here. Now go!" She says in a slight whisper.

It takes you a moment to realise what's happening but as soon as you do, you scramble to get up and to the bathroom to lock yourself inside of, almost falling over as you do. You know that this is an overreaction but you can't stop yourself since your brain is still telling you that it's the best option. The way the bathroom is located in the apartment, even with the door shut, you can still hear what's going on outside the walls without any issue. Irreth opens the door.

"Oh! Your Majesty! What are you doing here so suddenly?" She exclaims.

"Apologies for the intrusion, but I have to know if y/n is here with you?" He responds.

"No, she's not. Is she not at work?"

His Majesty sighs. "No. Didn't even clock in apparently."

"Hm...well she might just be out, doing whatever and didn't want anyone to know? Do you have to talk to her urgently?"

"Uh... It's not necessarily an emergency type of urgency but I want to see her as soon as possible either way."

"May I ask why?"

"No." His Majesty says, flatly.

"Ok. Well um, I'm sorry I wasn't able to help, but I'm sure she'll appear again very soon. I mean she doesn't have any reason to hide right?" Irreth talks in a way that's meant to be a prod at what happened last night.

"Well I don't think she does, but she might see things differently. When - or if - she comes back tell her to see me immediately, will you? I don't want to play cat and mouse."

"Of course Your Majesty. I'll send her right up when I see her."

They say their goodbyes and Irreth shuts the door, immediately coming to the bathroom as you creep out of it.

"Did you hear that? He doesn't want to play cat and mouse." She says.

You scrunch your face up and stare at the front door. It's going to happen, isn't it? A series of hiding and chasing for as long as you can put up with, all because you're a scared little trash pile. Maybe you'll randomly get the confidence out of nowhere that will allow you to talk to him, but something tells you that's going to take a long time, so for now, all you have to do is do what he said he didn't want to do. Cat and mouse. A simple game but a frightening one given the circumstances and even though you know it isn't the right choice, you want to do it. You want to keep as far away as possible, despite there being a very low chance of him being angry at you. Hell, he'll probably get upset if you do this and yet here you are telling yourself it's going to be the dumbest thing you'll ever do but worth it. Now you've convinced yourself and now every part of you wants to do it.

So it begins.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How many people know what those colours represent?


	12. Just Maybe

There's something wrong with you. You're stuck in a loop of being deathly scared and abnormally excited. It all boils down to the thought and promise you made to yourself about hiding from His Majesty. A part of you is full of worry and anxiety about it but the other part of you simply can't wait. It seems like fun in a weird, twisted way. The near misses, careful manoeuvres, planning and keeping it all very hush hush as if nothing's going on. It's almost like a movie - a spy one or anything that has a lot sneaking in it - so maybe it's the child side of you talking when it comes to liking the idea of what's to come. It doesn't help that you're thinking of so many stupid things, such as leaving teasing notes for him, or showing yourself for a few seconds before disappearing as if dangling the end goal just out of his reach. It sounds evil but you're dealing with the King of Hell so it can't be that bad when looking at him. Irreth says otherwise. She thinks that you're insane for going through with this 'mission', and she'd be absolutely correct in that thought - no doubt. She told you that there's no point in it either, since it's guaranteed that he'll find you eventually so you're basically just prolonging the inevitable in an immature way. That's what makes it fun, however. Curiosity could also be to blame.

~~~~~~~~~~

It would be a lie if you were to say you aren't entertained. You've lost count to how many times you had to take different routes or duck around corners because you saw His Majesty. Some co-workers have asked what the hell you're doing and you respond vaguely, making it sound so much more dramatic and also hiding what you did. You've noticed yourself trying to eavesdrop on the multiple conversations he has had with people - almost all of them has to do with him asking where you are. Sometimes he gets so close to finding you, and that's when the panic sets in. When you're safely away, you find this game somewhat humorous and entertaining but as soon as you're close to being found, you revert back to your scared, nervous, panicky self, all while questioning why you're doing this before going back to having fun. It's weird and sometimes alarming to the point of needing to duck into the changing rooms so as to take a breather. The sudden shift in emotion is something that isn't really common for you. Despite all of this, however, you are still determined to push this unnecessary game as far as you can go for some reason. Something is just telling you do it and so you shall.

~~~~~~~~~~

After taking a deep breath and checking the time to see you've made it halfway through your shift, you slowly open the door so you can exit the changing rooms. You stick your head through and look around before your body follows. Unfortunately, this calm nature doesn't last long since you hear His Majesty's distinct voice around the corner - getting louder. Without much time to think, you make a very strange decision to climb into a vent high up on the wall, but it serves it's purpose of hiding you and - as a bonus - you get to see the full conversation that His Majesty is having with none other than Serran.

"But why though?" She complains. "That doesn't sound fair."

"I don't know how it's not fair." He responds flatly, showing how much he doesn't care.

"Because she doesn't deserve it." She grabs his arm making him stop walking, giving you a perfect view of the two. "Y/n's a nobody. A human nobody. I have something to give you that's actually worth something.

"Y/n is not a nobody to me. It doesn't matter she's a human. And you have nothing to give me that I care about."

"But why? She practically just arrived in Hell. I've been here with you so much longer. We've built some sort of relationship, haven't we?"

"Too bad it's a bad one." His Majesty begins to walk but Serran stops him again.

"That's not fair. Why do you care about y/n so much? And why won't you stop taking about her all of a sudden? Aren't you happy that you get to have a break from seeing her for once? Is there something going on? Hm?" She prods, angrily.

"That is none of your business." He clenches his fists as he tenses up.

"I just want to know why. Why her out of all your options? Why not me? Why do you hate me so much? What did I ever do aside from love you?"

"Serran, if you want the truth, then the reason I don't like you is because I can see right through you. You were raised in a money hungry family and you were taught to seek out wealth and power. Your father pushed you towards me even when you were young. That's the reason he had you, to make himself rich because his daughter would be the Queen. And you know it too." He steps closer. "If you want the cold hearted truth, then I'll tell you why you're still breathing. Your father runs the trading between Pix and Tiroponla, which is something that is desperately needed so it would be foolish of me to potentially ruin that by destroying his only source of fragmented happiness. But I'll tell you... I am trying so hard to find someone to fill his position..." He steps closer again. "And as soon as I do that, I'll give you one, single chance. If you fail, then, well..." He chuckles like every cliche' supervillain as he raises a hand to her eye, pointing his claw directly at it as if ready to gouge it out. "You can be sure to expect something much worse then death."

He then turns and walks away but Serran manages to snap out of her horrified trance quickly enough so she can call out to him.

"Wait! I have to know..."

"What?"

"Do you actually love y/n - romantically - or is it just that you like being around her - with no feelings?"

"Heh... You have no idea how much I love her. Why do think I'm trying so hard to find her? She's my precious, little sweetheart..."

There's a sound of a door closing as Serran merely stands there, unmoving. You can tell there's a lot going on in her mind - there's a lot going on in yours as well. She stands there for a while before clenching her hands and teeth, looking down to the floor. Her fists subtly shake from presumably all the anger, and she she sharply inhales, now looking up to the ceiling.

"I'm going to kill her." She mutters before storming off.

That last sentence makes you freeze and feel as if it would be suicide to leave this tiny vent. Maybe it is.

~~~~~~~~~~

Unfortunately, you don't know the amount of trouble you could get in for satisfying that want of staying, so you carefully climb out. The sad thing is, is that apparently Serran decided she wanted to follow His Majesty after all so you don't even get a second out in the hallway before she suddenly comes right back around the corner. You can instantly see the anger flash in her face when she sees you.

"Bonnie wants to see you." She crosses her arms.

"I know."

"So you're going to go see him?"

"No."

She's taken aback for a second. "What? Why?"

"I have my reasons." You start to walk away. "Reasons that you don't need to know."

She tuts and storms up to you so she can grab your wrist. "What in the name of Lellella is going on between you two?"

"Nothing."

"Then why does he want you so badly!?"

"I don't know!" You snatch your arm back.

"What did you do, y/n?! He's obsessed!"

"That's not my fault! I told you this before. I can't control what he thinks of me!'

Serran growls while clenching her teeth and is seemingly about to jump you buy Aranik appears behind you before she does it.

"What is going on here?" He asks.

Serran crosses her arms, overflowing with attitude. "She's being a bashot, daddy."

"How so?" He puts one hand on your shoulder.

You shouldn't be in this situation. An argument doesn't stay under wraps for long so you feel as if His Majesty will walk around the corner at any second to see what the fuss is about and then your whole mission will be over in such a cheap way. You don't even pay attention to whatever Serran's response is - it's something about how you're damaging something she worked so hard to get. Typical.

"Well...y/n, maybe you should stay clear of His Majesty?" Aranik says.

You merely huff - not even bothering to say that you are in fact doing exactly that. This weird surge of confidence or perhaps courage doesn't care either, so when they both prod at you to say something more, you keep your mouth shut. You just want to leave and hide.

"You know what!" Aranik says before Serran tries to fight you. "Y/n, my lovely, are free to go home. Same with you, Serran."

"But I don't want to go home!" Serran complains like a child.

"I said you're free to go home. Don't back-chat me young lady or I'll toss you on the street to rot just like I did to your mother."

Serran pouts and growls, all while you simply walk away - not in the mood for either of them. You've got permission to leave, so you will leave. You hear Serran call out to you but she is quickly silenced by Aranik from a very sudden slap across the face. You don't even give her the satisfaction of seeing you glance over your shoulder.

~~~~~~~~~~

Some people try to get you to do things but you just say you have to leave without stopping or even slowing down. In fact, your pace seemingly gets faster with each interaction with someone. It does until you reach the front entrance, however. As you cautiously peer around a corner you see His Majesty waiting there, talking to the receptionist while constantly looking around most likely to spot you. Cheater. It's hardly fair that he would pick that spot, since it's almost a guarantee that you'll have to go there and then face him. Luckily, it's an 'almost' situation so you haven't lost yet. All you have to do is sneak out through either another exit or - if things get desperate - a window, and then you'll be home free. It's strange having to think like this in a work place but you feel as if you don't have a choice. It can't be as bad or difficult as you've been thinking, surely.

"Y/n?"

You jump and spin around. It's Ex. Great.

"His Majesty wishes to see you immediately so if you would plea-"

"Shhhhh. Keep your voice down." You whisper harshly. "He might hear you."

"I'm sorry?"

"His Majesty might hear you." You repeat.

"Well, he wants to speak with you."

"I know but I can't. I'm hiding from him right now."

"May I ask why?"

You tense up slightly. "He... didn't tell you?"

"All that I have been told is that he needs to talk to you as soon as possible due to 'personal reasons'."

You stare at him blankly. You had thought with His Majesty and Ex's seemingly close relationship, that he would've been given the full story.

"Y/n..." Ex puts his hands on his hips. "Yesterday - when you came over to see him - did something happen between the two of you?"

You bite your lip and spin back around so your back is to him, while you mumble quietly. "N-no...nothing h-happened..."

"Then why are you so resistant to see him?"

You stay quiet for a moment before sighing and turning to face him. "Yes, ok. I slept with him. I wasn't in control of my own body or mind so I couldn't stop what was going on. I-I didn't mean to or want to... That's why I'm hiding."

Ex stares at you, slowly nodding. "Ok. Unfortunately, I still have to take you to him so-"

"What!? Why?"

"By His Majesty's orders, y/n. I have to. It's what he wishes. I cannot go against that, nor disobey his order for me to bring you to him."

You shake your head. "You can't, please. I know it's wrong but... just... don't. Just this one time. I'll take full responsibility if he gets angry. I-I'm just not ready to face him yet. I'm sorry."

Ex looks off to the side, deep in thought. He glanced at you a couple times before he shuts his eyes and shakes his head. You merely hope and pray that he'll disobey His Majesty this one time.

"Y/n..." He starts. "I can't believe I'm going to say this but... I won't tell him where you are. I'll keep quiet."

You smile and almost begin to cry for some reason.

"But do please understand that you can't keep this behavior up forever and will have to face him sooner or later. His Majesty will go to the end of the Gust for you."

You nod. "I understand."

"Good." He begins to walk away before stopping. "Also, I'd recommend finding out what happened to you to loose control of yourself. It may have some lingering effects or something along those lines. The library will have the info."

"Ok." You nod and smile.

Ex then completely leaves and you check around the corner again. Now Aranik and Serran are with him, seemingly making him increasingly annoyed at each passing second. It's good news for you since they can serve as a distraction while you slip out. You gladly take this opportunity but you while doing so, you notice how you feel weird or at least different. A part of you is concerned while the other part is merely going 'oh, not this again'. Maybe this is what Ex meant by lingering effects. Maybe that voice hasn't completely left you. Maybe you've done every single thing wrong.

Maybe you're going to regret something.


	13. You Loose

Ex's timing was seemingly perfect when he told you that there might be some lingering effects with your possession - essentially - or at least he did to the point of it getting noticeable and concerning. While you were at work today, again avoiding His Majesty, you somehow managed to get sloppy despite all your hard efforts the day previous since something in your mind changed, making you feel not like yourself. It was so bad that you were practically caught. Without checking or even listening, you waltzed around a corner and right there was His Majesty, talking to someone. It wasn't face to face, but he noticed you instantly and made direct eye contact, forcing you to do a strange panic spin around as you frantically scrambled to run away - sort of imitating what slipping on ice would be like. You didn't even jog away. It was a full-blown sprint. Luckily, you managed to duck into a random room that had a lot of hiding spots, so he lost you - even though he did enter the room and call your name. What made the whole thing worse, however, was when after he left you got a shooting pain throughout your chest. When you went to the bathroom and checked, you found out that the symbol from that door is slowly returning. It started as a simple bruise but throughout your shift, it got brighter, more painful and was even starting to move. It was like that for the entirety of your shift and you found yourself wanting to see His Majesty, the same way you did when you were under control of that voice so that removed any suspicions about the mark.

~~~~~~~~~~

You barely talked to anyone or even interacted with them since you just wanted to go home, go to the library with Irreth so you can find out what's happening to you, and so here you are, standing next to her as see looks through some books.

"I don't know what it would classify as." She says.

"Possession?"

"Yeah, but what kind of possession?" She stops searching and looks at you. "You said how you woke up in front of seven doors?"

"Yeah. They were all lined up next to each other with different symbols and colours on each."

"What were the colours?" Her expression changes.

"Um..." You look off to the side, trying to remember. "I believe - going from left to right - there was, violent, green, orange, blue, red, yellow and light blue."

Irreth stares at you for a moment, eyes wide and lips tightly pressed together. You ask her what's wrong but she merely shakes her head and darts off somewhere. You quickly follow, while still questioning her but she doesn't respond, just keeps walking in a stiff motion. She suddenly stops, causing you to bump into her, and aggressively grabs a book off the shelf, immediately flicking through it.

"Is that what you saw?" She holds it up to you.

"Yes." You nod. "That's exactly what I saw."

"And you went through the blue one?"

"Yes...why? What is it?"

She looks back at the book. "I... don't remember what it's called on Earth - hold on." She flips through a couple pages, scanning over each for a few seconds. "Uh...does The Seven Deadly Sins sound familiar?"

Your heart drops. "Y-yes. Are they what those doors represent?"

"Yeah. Down here we call it the Kizon Wom Pazon. Which has no English equivalent."

You nod slowly before sharply inhaling. "So...which one did I pick?"

"Uh, you chose..." She flicks through more pages. "Lu- oh...oh no... Lust."

You frown and smack your lips despite it making perfect sense that, that was the one you wandered into. It's just to have it confirmed is what's making you act strangely.

~~~~~~~~~~

Irreth sighs as she tries to find a page that might explain why the symbol is returning, but after scanning over almost every page, she shuts the book, announcing how the information isn't in it.

"Maybe there's like a part two or something." She says, grabbing another book. "Look through this one. There might be something a few rows down so I'll go look."

She doesn't even give you a second to say anything since she immediately walks away. You call out to her, only to get no response as she disappears around a bookshelf too quickly. You huff and shake your head, looking down at the book she gave you but you realise something that should've been obvious. All of is in Enrata. Although you have tried your best to learn it - and are still doing so - you are nowhere near being fluent in it, meaning the majority of the text you won't be able to translate to English letters and then to English words. While thinking that you could get the basic gist of it from images, you flick through it, only to find that there aren't any pictures. Great. Due to being disappointed, you take one step back as if to make yourself comfortable, but unfortunately, you bump into something. Horror and panic instantly fills you, the same way the familiar scent of vanilla fills your nose.

Hands slide onto your shoulders. "Where have you been?"

On instinct, you jump away and spin around to face him, confirming the unfortunate obvious. So many stutters, shakes and twitches emanate from you as you want nothing more than for a trap door to open up beneath you, not caring what lays below it. You had thought and wished that you would have more time but no, barely even two days have passed. It's probably your fault that you weren't hiding in the first place.

"Y-your Majesty... I-I...I...what are..." You stutter before simply giving up on talking, shaking your head instead.

"Y/n..." He starts in that extremely deep voice of his. "Why have you been hiding from me?"

He doesn't sound mad and that's what's scaring you. He doesn't have a frown, a smile or anything. It's all neutral, but you can tell that he's feeling and thinking so many things, even if you don't know what those things are. His hands are on his hips but - again - it just seems like a natural pose, and not the result of being angry of even annoyed.

"I...I-I haven't been...h-hiding." You turn around and wince at that painfully awful lie.

"Oh really?" He says in a hushed tone, making the hair on the back of your neck stand on edge. "Then why haven't I seen you anywhere, apart from earlier today before you ran away from me?"

You don't respond and silently beg for Irreth to come back, even though she probably wouldn't be able to do much.

~~~~~~~~~~

You get shivers down your spine as His Majesty puts his hand on the back of your neck, slowly and tenderly sliding it to your shoulder as he walks in front of you.

"It wouldn't be because of what we did, would it, sweetheart?" He takes the book out of your hands and puts it back on the shelf.

You look down to the floor but all he does is move your face with his finger to look at him. For some reason, the sudden urge to cry springs onto you so you bite your lip and remain silent, fighting it off. He's about to say something but the sound off Irreth cuts him off.

"Y/n?"

You turn around and see her behind you with a couple books in her arms. The look in her eye tells you so many things.

"Irreth!" You exclaim. "We just finished talking."

You don't wait and see his response. You merely get away from him and walk, dragging Irreth with you. He doesn't stop you surprisingly, nor does he even call out to you. The only thing he does is stare, and you know this due to feeling his eyes on the back of your head. Although, despite all of this, you just know he'll follow you soon enough so while leaving the library and going home in a complete rush, you try and think about what you'll say to him, planning out every response to everything he says. A part of you hopes you can simply say that you were possessed and leave it at that.

~~~~Small Time Skip~~~~

"If I had a tellon for every time you did something stupid." Irreth says.

"What did you expect me to do?"

"Talk to him maybe?"

Your press your fingers to your nose. "It's not that simple."

"It kind of is..." She shifts the books in her arm slightly and looks behind the two of you, gasping as she does. "Well... You can make up for it now."

You turn around and sure enough, His Majesty is walking towards the two of you, eyes pinned on you specifically.

"I guess you want to talk to y/n, Your Majesty?" Irreth says.

He nods, which is strange as he's not one to give silent responses aside from different types of stares. Irreth takes the books you have and leans into your ear to whisper a good luck to you before quickly walking away. You let out a big sigh and step towards the railing on the bridge you're on right now to lean on it.

"Y/n..."

His voice is different but you ignore it. "Look. I-I'm sorry, ok? I..I couldn't control my actions and was possessed o-or something."

"I know." He stands next to you.

"What?" You look at him.

"You were possessed by a Kizon Wom Pazon demon. The lust one to be specific. I know because the symbol was right there on your chest, plus you were acting not like yourself."

"A-and you just...went along with it?"

"Yeah. Why wouldn't I?"

"Um... because you knew it wasn't me saying or doing anything?"

"Not necessarily. All the demon does is make you satisfy a deep desire you have - the same goes for the rest of them. That means that you do want to have something with me but just don't have the courage to do anything about it."

You continue to stare at him, mouth slightly agape. Now what do you do? You can't just deny any feelings for him as he clearly knows the truth, and he returns those same feelings. Without knowing what to do, you merely mumble and look away, but - as expected - he turns you back to face him.

"Sweetheart, you can't just run away or ignore this." He says. "I mean, don't you want to have something you wish for?"

"Just because I want it doesn't mean I should have it."

He holds your hands. "Why shouldn't you? I love you in return."

"Well, maybe but... it's just...I-I can't..."

His eyes subtly move as something in him changes, but it's like he's looking right through you - his thoughts spiraling out into so many things. He's not acting like himself.

"I don't understand why you can't." His voice is small.

"You're the King. It wouldn't reflect well on you if you put someone who isn't from Hell and has had almost no experience with it until recently in the position of Queen - or anything close to Queen."

He shakes his head. "Sweetheart, by the time we get to that stage, you would have practically learnt everything you need to know."

"And then what about the issue of that I'm just not fit for that title?"

"You don't have to be. I've said this before - I don't know what royalty is like down on Earth - but you don't need any qualification to be my Queen. All the responsibility, power, order - everything - goes to whoever has the royal blood, which is me. No one cares who I want to be with." He explains.

You go silent yet again, leaning your head down. This time, however, he doesn't make you look at him but rather does the simple action of hugging you.

"Y/n, please..." He says, now sounding like an entirely different person. "Mew talne grum salando."  
(Translation: I ??? ??? another)

~~~~~~~~~~

You tear up as you slowly hug him back, not even caring that you don't know what he said. So many emotions are begging to be the main thing you feel, so you end up jumping from thought to thought as they fight over each other for control. Fear, sadness, happiness, confusion - everything. Nothing makes sense. You don't know what to do. You shouldn't be in this position but you want it.

You can't.


	14. How Wise

"W-would you stop?"

"And why would I do that?"

You mumble as Bonnie continues to kiss and nuzzle the back of your head.(Yes, I'll refer to him as Bonnie from now on, hallelujah) You don't know if this would be considered too fast as it's still only yesterday that the two of you decided to declare love. It's not that you don't like it - quite the contrary - but rather, that this is not what you expected. The right to judge these things is a little muddled for you, however, since this is your first relationship. The suspicious feeling may also stem from how seemingly out of character he was yesterday and now is almost completely back to normal as if it never happened. There are still small differences but those all really relate back to the fact that he's simply more affectionate.

"Someone could walk in here at any moment." You say, continuing to organize multiple papers into different categories.

"Not unless they know how to pick the lock." Bonnie rests his head on yours. "Besides, we aren't doing anything. What's all the worry for?"

You sigh, not knowing how he locked the door since it doesn't even have one to begin with. "Y-you promised."

"And I'm still keeping it."

You go silent as you don't know what to say. It is true that the promise has not been broken so you need not be concerned, but you are. The promise was that he wouldn't get all touchy-feely with you as you're not ready to be public about it since there are still concerns and fears in your mind. You haven't even told Irreth about it yet. Although you are at your workplace right now, he is still technically not being public as you're in a secluded room with no windows and the door supposedly locked. You still feel odd about it though. The previous thought of someone randomly coming in still pops in and out of your mind so you - for some reason - feel as if you're all out of display. Bonnie seemingly knows this, as you've already accepted he'll do anything to get you nervous. He finds it cute.

~~~~~~~~~~

You put the last stack of sorted papers into a file and push his arms off of you so you can turn around. "You know, people are already probably getting suspicious."

"And why's that?"

"B-because of you being a lot closer than you are with others - even if it's not necessarily lovey-dove stuff - and a lot more with me than what you were before."

"How do you know that I'm not keeping the same distance I do with others?" He smiles.

"Irreth already told me. You have this thing with physical contact. Everyone knows it and so they're all going to be wondering what's going on."

"You worry too much, my sweetheart." He puts his hands on your shoulders. "Suspicion will arise, of course, but they all know that it is none of their business and will keep their mouths shut."

You murmur and look away. A part of your mind flashes to Irreth and Serran. What are they going to think?

"Even if people find out, they won't care. If they do and make a big deal out of it, however, then..." He smiles. "You can put all your trust with me, that I will deal with them appropriately."

You give him a look and are about to say something but there's a very sudden knock on the door after the handle jiggles, making you panic slightly and jump away from Bonnie. He snaps his fingers and the door opens, revealing Aranik standing there with a suspicious look in his eye as he looks between the two of you.

~~~~~~~~~~

"What is it, Aranik?" Bonnie puts his hands on his hips.

"I was just wondering if y/n was done sorting, her shift is almost over."

Bonnie looks at you and you slowly nod. Aranik opens his mouth and lifts his hand towards you as if about to ask you to come with him but Bonnie cuts him off before he even gets a single breath out.

"Y/n will be discussing certain matters with me so she cannot be apart of anything that takes place after her shift."

Aranik narrows his eyes at Bonnie before shutting the door, leaving you two alone again.

"There." He turns to you. "Now we won't be bothered again."

He steps closer to you and holds your hands as you continue to stare out into nothing. You feel off. It's not bad nor good but rather a mere odd sensation and an annoyance. It's not concerning, however, so you simply huff, shaking your head, and gingerly rest your head on Bonnie's chest.

"Are you alright, sweetheart?" He hugs you closer.

"Yes." You reply bluntly.

He tuts and kisses your head, quietly saying how he knows your lying. You stay still for a moment, staring at nothing in particular, with your arms loosely holding onto him until you build up the courage to gently push him away.

"I...I should get going. My shifts practically over and Irreth will get worried if I'm late back." You start to walk to the door.

"Or you could come with me." Bonnie quickly follows.

"I c-can't today. Unfortunately." You leave the room. "But I don't have work for the next two days so that's... good, right?"

He chuckles. "Of course."

You hum and keep walking, getting tingles up your spine every time you feel his arm brush up against yours. It's harmless, what he's doing, but you can't help but feel on the spot - more so than usual when around him. You haven't yet seen anyone staring but your brain constantly asks you if they only look once you can't see them.

~~~~~~~~~~

You get to the front entrance but still can't leave since someone asked you to laminate something - although Bonnie's the one doing it due to you not knowing how to work the machine as it's nothing like the ones on Earth. While waiting, you find yourself looking around a lot more than usual and your eyes land on something you didn't want to see but ultimately don't really care, strangely. Serran's sitting on a single chair in a corner and staring intently in your direction, which is to be expected when looking at how close you're standing to Bonnie. She doesn't notice that you've spotted her, however, but none of that is what you focus on. What you focus on is this peculiar idea that you have in your mind suddenly. It's an awful one but an oh so tempting one at the same time and the issue is, is that the temptation is overpowering the logical part of you. What makes it worse is that Serran is the only person that can see you and Bonnie so she would be the only one to witness whatever you two did. You bite your lip as the want to do it overcomes every part of your body so you find yourself moving closer to Bonnie. Gently, you slide your hands onto his arm, making sure to watch Serran to see each and every one of her reactions. Bonnie moves his arm to be wrapped around your shoulder so you have no choice but to wrap your arms around his lower back. You can see Serran shift in her chair so she can stare even harder than she already was. Best part is, is that you're not done. You look up at Bonnie and go on your tiptoes to kiss the bottom of his chin but he merely smiles and moves to kiss you on the lips with great enthusiasm. Serran's face after you turn to look at her... Priceless.

"You should do that more often." Bonnie puts the now laminated paper into a file on the front desk.

You give him small smile and he puts a hand on your shoulder to get you to walk. You take one more glance at Serran and see her no longer on the chair, nor anywhere to be seen. Probably going to go complain about it to Aranik.

~~~~~~~~~~

"What are we going to be doing tomorrow?" You ask, now in front of your apartment building.

Bonnie shrugs. "Depends."

You nod and he leans down to kiss your forehead, making you blush and get all nervous despite the earlier kiss on the lips not having much of an effect on you.

"Also, I want you to know that you can come to me at any time. Just barge inside and I'll be right there for you. Ok?"

You nod. "Ok."

He smiles and walks away after kissing the back of your hand. You stare at him for a moment before going inside and you immediately feel off as you do. Unlike most times, however, the amount of time it takes before whatever is causing the strange feelings to appear doesn't take very long.

~~~~~~~~~~

As soon as you walk through the door you can feel some sort of anger in the air and when you step further into the apartment, you see what is causing it. Irreth is not happy.

"Are you alright, Irreth?" You ask.

"No. No I'm not." She turns to you and crosses her arms.

"What's wrong?"

"You."

Your eyes widen. "Excuse me?"

"Y/n, I saw the whole thing with His Majesty outside through the window. You cannot get around the fact he kissed you on the forehead and was so painfully obviously a lot more touchy with you. What is going on?"

You sigh. "What do you want me to say? Yes, ok? I went with him and now we're together. What's your point?"

"What in the entire Gust were you thinking?!"

"What did you want me to do? Reject him even though we both knew that, that's not what I wanted? You're the one you kept saying that I should talk to him and I did."

"I said to talk to him - not to go with him. There's a big difference."

You narrow your eyes at her. "It's those 'rumors', isn't it?" You point a finger at her. "Which you still haven't told me what they are might I add."

"Fine. I'll tell you." She turns around. "All they really are is that His Majesty will get close to someone for the sole purpose of making them fall into a false sense of a security before he'll...do horrible things to them. The thing is, is that he hasn't done anything like that in a long time. Never really hurt anyone. I'm just worried that he's trying to do that to you, so he can satisfy his desire that he hasn't been able to."

You shake your head. "Don't you think he would've done so by now? There have been plenty of opportunities for him."

"Well maybe he's planning something."

"Or! Or...maybe those rumors aren't true and he genuinely loves me."

"Y/n, you don't get it do you?" Irreth says harshly. "He is the King of Hell. You know, the big, bad, evil place that you're currently living in right now? You cannot trust him."

"Maybe, but I don't think rejecting him when he wants me is a smarter idea."

"You're making it sound like choosing to not be with him is destined for disaster. For as unstable as he is, I don't think he would care if you two keep things as friends."

"No, Irreth. You are the one who doesn't get it now."

She stares at you dead in the eyes. "You better not be wanting to stay with him."

"And if I do?"

"Y/n, you can't! He isn't the right one for you. You have no idea who you're dealing with. You don't know what he came from, what he's done. You can't stay with him, it's not safe."

"Irreth, stop it! Yes, I don't know things about him and yes I might be walking to my death but isn't what this place is about? Plus, I think it's pretty good that I would meet my end to the King himself."

Irreth snaps at your wrist. "You can't go to him. Leave him. He deserves to be left once more."

You weren't going to go see him, but now... Now, however, you want nothing more than to do that. Although you want to prod at her last comment, the need to leave is more important to you right now so after giving a small glare to her, you smack her hand off yours.

"You know." You start walking away. "I think you've got it all wrong. I think there's more to everything you're complaining about and until you understand that, I don't want to hear anything from you about our relationship."

You don't give her a chance to speak and simply leave. It's a good thing Bonnie mentioned you could come to him at anytime. You're still nervous about it admittedly, but if you want to get rid of that feeling, you're going to have to do it more often. Something tells you that it'll be worth it but not necessarily for you but rather, for him.

He doesn't deserve to be left again.


	15. Remember This

This isn't the first time you've woken up next to Bonnie in his bed but it is the first time you're able to do it comfortably without panic. He's not asleep and just sitting up reading something so as soon as you start moving, he notices.

"Good morning, my sweetheart." He says.

All you do is mumble and stay still, your thoughts immediately going back to that small argument with Irreth. Although it was short and not that bad, you still feel as if it's going to be lingering around for much, much longer than it should, as if she is never going to forgive you for going with Bonnie - for some reason. If your memory is correct, she did say that the rumors might not even be true like most cases but yet here she is, treating them like fact. In some way it's nice, the amount of worry and care she has for you, but a little faith wouldn't hurt. You haven't told Bonnie that's what brought you back here. All you said is that you wanted to for no particular reason, but the tone of your voice made you transparent and so you suspect he's going to be questioning you sometime today - if not right now.

"Can we just stay here all day?" You ask, finally fully awake.

"Of course."

You don't know if it's just you having just woke up, but his voice seems to be deeper than usual - not that you're complaining. Slowly, you sit up, rubbing your eyes, and instantly feel Bonnie move to be right behind you.

"Are you going to tell me what happened or do you still not want to talk about it?"

The way he said that makes shivers go up your spine for some reason. Maybe it's because it was right in your ear or maybe it's because of how close he is to you - you don't know. His face is hovering just above your shoulder but it's close enough that you can get strange tingles from it.

"Um..." You move away from him. "I would rather not talk about it. R-right now at least."

He stares at you and nods slowly. "Just as long it's not serious, that's fine."

You stare right back at him, despite the fact it feels as if he's glaring right into your soul, and he eventually moves to get up.

"Promise me you'll tell me eventually?" He says, getting dressed.

"Eventually."

"Hm."

You don't move from the bed and merely gawk at him until he leaves to the lounge room.

~~~~~~~~~~

It's strange. You've had this feeling before and it hasn't changed one bit. The thought that this is the King himself. You are with him, he loves you and you're interacting casually with him. Its barely your third week here and you've already gotten so far in technicality, but in feeling, you haven't gone nearly as far. Even now you feel as if you don't know anything about Bonnie. Almost everything he does, every reaction he has, makes you think and wonder who you're dealing with. Already there are things that are simply confusing to you. Ex would know. He is loyal to Bonnie's command so he won't say anything that he's not allowed to but from what you can guess, based on previous instances, he'll give you a hint. You could try to get info directly from Bonnie but he doesn't seem like the type to get personal - even to you. Maybe if you butter him up a bit.

~~~~~~~~~~

You stare at him for a moment while he's sitting on the couch until walking over to him. He tosses a laptop of sorts to his side as you do so he can give his full attention to you but all you do is ask what he was doing on it.

"Boring stuff." Is all he says.

"Do you have a lot of work to do?"

"Well yeah, because you know," he points to himself, "king."

"Well, if you're the King doesn't that mean you can just do whatever you want?"

"Yes, but I don't. That's not how I was...taught. Plus, if I get lazy and don't actually rule this place there's a high chance I'll be kicked off the throne."

You begin to think. Bonnie most likely wasn't born, nor really grew up for obvious reasons, and that also means he doesn't have any blood... Which means he can't have any royal blood or be related to the family.

"W-what...what happened to the previous King or Queen?" You ask, cautiously.

"They were kicked... The King was a bad ruler and didn't even last a week before he was sentenced to death but he took he own life before they could do that. The Queen met a similar fate when she tried to seize all the power, which is forbidden."

"Why is it forbidden?"

"Because the power can only go to that who has the royal blood. It's partly why the monarchy can marry whomever they want. If the throne is empty, only partial power can be split between those who are trusted - most notably Ex - and the Queen was not trusted."

"Right..."

The way Bonnie talks... It almost confirms he wasn't born into the family, otherwise he would be calling the previous rulers his parents - or at least some other family member. If he isn't connected to the family, however, than what in the world is he doing as King? Surely someone with even a drop of royal blood would be chosen over him - if you are correct about everything.

"Why do you ask, my sweetheart?" He stands up.

"I-I'm uh... curious."

You notice that he's visibly tense, which would seemingly indicate that you're very close to a touchy subject. It's probably why he's stood up to begin with. The sad part is, is that the question you want to ask is probably going to completely tip into an uncomfortable topic and you want to ask it so badly. Oh so badly.

~~~~~~~~~~

"So..." You start, already bracing yourself. "H-how did...you become King?"

Bonnie stops dead in his tracks. Originally, he was pacing around but now he's like a statue. His shoulders are almost up to his neck and although his back is to you, you know his eyes are darting around as if trying to find a way to dodge the question. You've already committed to it though, so you won't rest until you get some sort of answer.

"Why...why do you ask?" He doesn't move.

"Um...well." You wonder if you've just killed yourself. "Y-you don't seem like you were born into the family in some way... W-which means you can't have the royal blood so I was just wondering..."

He laughs, which admittedly scares you a little, before turning around. "Oh sweetheart. I can assure you I do have the royal blood in me. Otherwise I wouldn't be able to do things like this."

A dark cloud engulfs him before it appears directly in front of you, bringing him with it. After you yelp at his sudden appearance he lifts his hand up, the same dark mist wrapping around it, and before you know it, you're hovering in the air with the same stuff around you.

"If I didn't have that blood in me do you think I would be able to do this, sweetheart?" He tries to conceal his amusement at seeing you flail your arms and legs everywhere.

"Well - ah!" He spins you so you're upside down. "I read that anyone - demon or not - can cast demon magic...spells...stuff. So I don't know what you're talking - ABOUT!" He lifts you higher.

He chuckles. "That's only true to some extent. Those who are not gifted with the ability naturally can only use magic that is cast by words. Which is merely a spell."

"B-but...how do you have blood in you? You aren't... organic. At the very least you wouldn't have started out with it."

He spins you again and you flinch when you see his face. A very unhappy face. He moves you towards him before releasing you from the magic, making you fall into his arms, bridal style.

"This isn't Earth, sweetheart. We don't follow the rules you've set over there. You'll learn more very quickly so I wouldn't worry about it." He grins.

With that he drops you back onto the couch. All you do is huff, however.

"What?" He puts his hands on his hips.

"You didn't answer my question. How did you become King?"

"Ah, I see how it is. Well..." He walks away from the couch. "I became King...with great... difficulty."

You sit up and stare at him. "That can't be it."

"Use your imagination."

"But that's..." You sigh. "Am I allowed to ask Ex?"

"You can go right ahead."

The way he says that implies you won't get anything from Ex, but you know otherwise so you internally put it on your to do list. You stand up and slowly walk towards him.

"Will I ever know?" You ask. "I-I mean, I feel bad if I don't make an effort to learn more about you, especially since we're... together."

"Aw, sweetheart." He holds your hands. "I promise you'll learn all you need to know."

"Does that include your past?"

He chuckles. "You're a curious little one, aren't you?"

"I just want to know." You look down.

"Well, if you're that determined to find out." He lifts your face to looks at him. "I hope you have fun trying to figure it out."

You frown at him. "Thanks..."

He laughs and collapses onto the couch. "I'm pretty sure you already have a starting point so I don't know what the problem is."

~~~~~~~~~~

You shake your head. "Does Ex even know about us?"

"Of course he does. There's no hiding anything from him. I learnt that the hard way."

"Is he ok with it?"

"Yes." Bonnie looks at you. "Why wouldn't he be?"

"I don't know..."

"Hm. What about your friend? Does she know?"

"Yeah..." You look to the floor.

"I'm guessing she's not happy."

"No. No she's not."

"That wouldn't be the reason you came home, would it?"

You sigh. "It was. W-we got into a little argument and I just left."

"Why isn't she happy with it? I think having a friend who's directly tied to the King would be great thing."

"I-it's because she's worried." You stop talking as you don't want to tell him the specifics.

"About the rumors?"

You look at him instantly. "Yes. Um...how do you know?"

He chuckles. "Word gets to me fairly easily. Especially since it's such a concern for some. Stupid really. Almost no evidence and they're treating it as fact."

"A-almost?"

He tuts. "Don't be like that, sweetheart. None of it's true. If it was, you would already be dead. The reason why they only have little evidence is because they see one thing that doesn't have a lot of information and then make up their own stuff."

"So, so what gave them the little bit?"

"The fact that the majority of people that rose up the ranks shall we say, and managed to get near me...are no longer with us." He smiles.

"Why?" You squeak out.

"Because I saw right through each and every one of them. I knew they were only in it for the title, the advantages, the chances. None of them were true with their words and I don't take kindly to that, so they're gone."

"Um..." You know he's the King of Hell and yet you're still somewhat shocked to hear he's actually killed people for some reason. "C-can't you just tell everyone that's what happened?"

"I wish I could. You see if I tell everyone that, then they'll all know how much deception, lies and corruption there is in the higher ranks, which will cause more issues than just letting some people make up stories about me - that the majority don't believe anyway. Eventually I'll have it all fixed so that there is zero corruption but that'll be a long, long, long time."

"Ok." You nod.

"Look, sweetheart, I don't want you worrying about any of this. Everything is perfectly fine and in the rare chance things get out of hand, I will handle it. Alright?"

You nod, albeit without much reassurance.

Bonnie tuts. "Look at you. So small and innocent." He lifts his hands up to you and sort of frames you with his fingers. "You honestly think I would let someone like you fall?"

From his perspective, the entirety of you is inside this box he's made with his hands, but from you're perspective, it's his eye, so you have no choice but to let it stare into you.

"I've been around long enough to know that you are too precious to not care about. So many would sacrifice their life for you, whether you know it or not. So many would put their life on the line just to make sure you're safe. They'd do anything for you. You mustn't push them away, or forget them - trust me. That's the worst thing you could do to the people you did all they could to save you - even if they failed. The amount of betrayal you would do to them if you forget them. Even if you've sworn to never talk again. Don't forget what built you. What guided you. What held you. So young and stupid. Mistakes. Triumph. Even if they don't understand. If they just don't get it. You can't let them rot in your memory. They didn't know. You didn't know. No one did..."

"Mew gontol trat ben kirajul shaldanto juss darl mew hala..." (Translation: I still ?? to this, ?? ?? ?? I ??... )


	16. Exactly The Same

You're out on display, or at least you feel like you are. There's no one around you except for Bonnie and yet you can feel so many eyes on you, staring, judging. It doesn't make sense as he promised you that you two would be completely alone - and you are. You don't know what could be making you feel like this, however. Maybe it's because of how close he is to you, with his arm holding yours.

"Something's bothering you." He says.

"N-no. I'm fine."

"Hm." He leans closer and kisses your cheek.

You immediately shift uncomfortably and look further away from him. You are ok with him doing things like that, however, for the most part at least, but it's simply now you would just rather he doesn't.

"You do know we're completely alone, don't you? There isn't a soul for ages."

"I-I know that but it's just...I don't know." You say quietly. "I still feel like there's so many watching."

"But why would that be an issue? We're merely talking."

"I know but..." You bite your lip. "It's just... you're the King so I can't... yeah."

"Y/n, we've been through this before." He puts his hands on your shoulders.

You merely mumble as you don't know what to say. Something's wrong with you, to put it bluntly, since you know and understand what he's told you about your concerns but yet you're still worrying about it. Bonnie goes quiet with his eyes wandering off to the side as if deep in thought before slowly grabbing your hands, making you get a bad feeling almost immediately.

"Why don't we do a little test, of sorts?" He says.

"I don't like where this is going."

"I know." He starts to walk backwards. "But it'll help."

You shake your head but he doesn't stop so you end up just letting him drag you behind him towards the public eye. Although you don't entirely know what he's got in mind, you get the gist of it so every part of you is begging to fight against him but unfortunately, there is not a single chance that could ever exist in which you would be able to overpower him.

~~~~~~~~~~

It doesn't take long before the noise of people starts to fill your ears and at that point - as if on instinct - you rip your hand out of Bonnie's, making him stop instantly. You can see everyone going about their day, completely oblivious to you two standing just out of sight, and you want to keep it that way.

"I...I can't do it." You say, not even looking at Bonnie.

"Why not? I'm right here next to you. Besides, we're going to have to show everyone eventually." He holds his hand out and smiles. "All it is, is walking."

You stare at his hand for a moment. Why are you so scared? He's already told you that no one will really care so stop being stupid. After a short moment of silence you take a deep breath and gingerly grab his hand. He enlaces your fingers through his and starts to pull you along. It's not even a lot of people. It's not like you're walking into a massive crowd where there's no room between shoulders, it's just what you would expect for a semi busy street. It's not empty, nor crowded. It's just normal. What is wrong with you? At least you have a way to let out some of your stress, which is to squeeze Bonnie's hand like there's no tomorrow.

"See? Easy." He whispers.

You look around to confirm that and instantly see some people staring. It's not a bad stare, however, it's more shock filled before they smile. They smile. Why are they smiling? It's not an evil smile either. Every single one is small and heartfelt, like they're finding you with Bonnie adorable, before they go back to their business. The only time you notice people seem not like that is when they look at Bonnie, and even then it's only slight nervousness which is to be expected by some. A random, new, nobody, human is holding hands with the King and everyone is happy about it. That just doesn't seem right to you. Bad thing is, is that you don't have any reason to believe that other than that's just what you expected. It is nice, strangely, as the reassurance of actually seeing people ok with it is settling some of your nerves. Some.

~~~~~~~~~~

You don't stop looking at everyone to see what they are thinking or feeling, however. It's almost like a part of you thinks this nice acceptance isn't going to last or is just all fake.

"Your Majesty!" Someone calls out.

Your heart rate picks up and you instantly drop Bonnie's hand, only for him to hold your arm.

"What?" He says, making sure that you two are as close as can be.

"You're needed for a quick moment. To sign something."

"Couldn't you have just left that with Ex, for me to do later." He squeezes your hand.

"Well, since I just saw you here I just thought that you could do it now." Their voice shakes. "Um, yeah...she can't come though since it's... confidential.... It's really important though and the quicker we get it done the better. I-it'll only take a moment, I promise."

Bonnie glares at them for a moment before groaning and letting you go. "I'm sorry, sweetheart. This better be quick."

Before leaving he hands you something off of his belt and you find it's a little device with games on it. Cool. Bonnie grabs the guy's arm and mercilessly drags him along behind him, all while you quickly find a spot to hide and mess around with your new toy. It's a simple game, which is really good since everything on it is in Enrata, which you still aren't fluent in sadly. Eventually, the outside world drowns out as you focus on the game so your perception of time changes to feel as if only a few minutes pass.

~~~~~~~~~~

Unfortunately, it's not a simple 'just wait for Bonnie' deal since when you randomly ping back to reality, you come out from the little hiding spot to try and see if he's done. Which was a terrible mistake. Not even two seconds of you standing out in the open by yourself pass before you're suddenly tackled to the ground. You don't even realise what happened until whoever jumped you tries to punch, ultimately failing as you block it. On instinct, you kick them in the stomach and only then do you see it's Serran. This should've been expected since you did kiss the man of her dreams right in front of her after all. A tasteless move but a funny one.

"I hate you!" She says getting back up after you kicked her to the floor. "Do you have any idea what you've done?!"

"No actually. I don't."

She runs at you so you hold your hands out to push her. You both end up just staying in place pushing each other by the hands, however, as seemingly you're equal in strength.

"I spent my whole life gearing up to be Queen! Countless hours a day, training and buttering Bonnie up, just to fulfill my purpose. You just took that away from me! Everything I've done is now worthless. All my dreams and goals are impossible now. All because of you!"

"That's not my fault you wasted your life on something stupid."

"Stupid?!" She tries to overpower you but you just do the same. "How dare you!"

"Well what were you thinking when you thought of being the King's Queen? If he's been single for so long, so many others have tried, what made you think you had a chance?"

"You got with him just fine!"

"Lucky me."

She growls and again tries to overpower you by sending all her energy into one big shove. You slide back slightly but quickly get your footing back, much to Serran's dismay.

"Maybe Bonnie just saw right through all your lies." You say. "Saw that all you wanted was the title and didn't actually love him."

Her face twitches slightly. "That's not true! I do love him - more than you ever will."

"All you've done says otherwise."

"How?!"

"If you truly love him you wouldn't be fighting me right now. You would respect the fact he's found someone other than you. You would be glad he's found someone he's happy with. You wouldn't pester him every day, especially when he clearly doesn't like it." You feel Serran's arms weaken. "There's a song back on Earth. One of the lyrics is 'if you love me let me go'. If you love him. Truly love him with all your heart. You would leave him alone, despite all you've supposedly done for him."

Serran's arms weaken further as she looks off to the side. You notice her eyes become slightly de-saturated, with black lines coming in from the sides. It doesn't last, however, as she suddenly shakes her head and resumes pushing with all your strength.

"You don't get it!" She says. "This isn't Earth. Don't put your dumb sayings into Hell unless you have a death wish."

"It's the same principle."

"No it's not!"

Out of nowhere there's an explosion of flames from her hands and with one powerful shove, you go flying backwards, your spine going right onto a corner of a building, which makes you scream before collapsing onto the ground.

~~~~~~~~~~

Serran's standing over you, hair more on fire then it normally is, and you notice that people have realised what's happening but no one's doing anything but watching like this is a movie they're witnessing.

You cough. "Am I wrong? He doesn't want you, accept that and he'll be happy. Isn't that what matters? That he's happy?"

She doesn't move.

"We both want him, don't we?" You cough again. "So we both know how good it is to see him smile. We both understand how hard it is to see a pure smile - if it even exists for him. We both want to see it. We both would do anything to see it. So why are you doing the opposite?"

"Shut up." She hisses through gritting teeth.

"We're practically in the same boat when it comes to knowing who he truly is. You've surely had more time to put some pieces together and I'm just starting to but eventually, we'll know him, won't we? Even if you aren't with him romantically, doesn't mean you can't be with him - end of story. You can prove to him that you're worth at least an acquaintance. I'll help, I promise."

She stares at you, although it feels as if she's looking right through you. "No... that's not true. You haven't been here long enough. I know where he came from. Maybe not nearly the full story but I know what he started from at least. From what my father has told me, Bonnie...has some...issues. It's probably why he got so attached to you so quickly. You remind him of so much but... it's not good for him to be reminded. It could hurt him."

You open your mouth to say something but she cuts you off. "You just don't get it! You can't know his full story. The punishment is death and my father is on that list. Bonnie just doesn't know it."

You shake your head as she's starting to not make sense.

"Everything I've learnt is worthless. Don't you know how that feels?" She says, voice shaking. "To have everything you've built up just be all for nothing. Every choice, every decision. Gone! I'm probably going to have to start from scratch, throw all my memories away as they're all pointless now. Do you have any idea what that's like?!"

"Yes. I do."

She freezes. "What?"

"Why do you think I came to Hell?"

She merely stands with her mouth agape before frowning and shaking her head, lifting up a hand that's spitting flames. You can't go out like this. There's small idea in the back of your mind but the chance of it helping you is almost zero. It wouldn't hurt to try, however.

~~~~~~~~~~

"Serran! What are you doing!? Get away from her!"

You both look and see Bonnie storming over. You notice how his red dot pupils are bigger than usual for some reason.

"B-Bonnie?" Serran's fire calms down.

You don't think. You simply see an opportunity and take it. Maybe it's dumb - especially since Bonnie was right there, meaning you were safe - but you don't really care. The thrill of it working is also something you wanted to feel and so, without a second thought, you jumped up and shouted.

"Jus oshtalgan von!"

Surprisingly, it works. A bright red mist pulses out from your hand and into Serran, sending her flying backwards. Soon after, however, you feel weak and collapse to the ground, only for Bonnie to appear right beside you. All you do is hug him. You watch Serran stumble back to her feet and stare at you for a moment until running off. Slowly, you hand Bonnie his little game device back as he caresses your hand that sent the blow.

"I beat your score." You smile.


	17. Tough

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING!!: This chapter contains attempted rape. Read at your own risk.

"I'll be fine"

This isn't the first time you've been bugged about going to work, but this time you're having a harder time convincing the person - mainly because it's Bonnie. You decided to stay with him again overnight as you're still not in the mood for Irreth just yet.

"Sweetheart, I can't come in with you until very late - the same with Ex - so I'd prefer if you'd stay here, at home. Safe." He rubs your back. "Plus, you've still got an awful bruise, and are still recovering from using that spell."

"I'm sorry, but I'm going into work today. The pain is not even that bad and will probably disappear soon enough." You step away from him.

He frowns at you. "Fine. But do not push yourself, understand?"

"Yes." You say quietly.

He shakes his head before kissing you. See, you're perfectly fine with it now as you're in the comfort of his house but something tells you, you are going to be touched a lot with...someone. You don't know if it's him yet, which sounds awful - and it is - because it scares you to think about that. You don't want to be touched by anyone but him. He would agree with that. That's somewhat proven by the fact he doesn't let you go very quickly after kissing you. You don't mind, however, and just let him stand there.

~~~~~~~~~~

A part of you feels bad since Bonnie truly looked upset, but it wasn't a sad kind of upset but rather a 'he knows what's best and you shouldn't have gone to work' kind. It's kind of cute in a way - to you at least. You can't stop thinking that you're just going to turn around at some point and he's going to be right there. The other part of you is thinking about whether or not you're going to see Serran at some point. She probably won't show up as she's expecting Bonnie to be glued by your side but you might be surprised yet. You've been tempted to ask Aranik but he hasn't been acting himself lately - in some sort of way. It does seem like something he would do but it's more like a exaggerated version of himself, where everything's ten times worse. He's not angry though. Just... off. You wouldn't really care if he wasn't seemingly targeting you and showing up everywhere, always telling you to do something. All that really makes you hope Bonnie will appear out nowhere. That would solve everything, but alas, he's busy and so you must fend for yourself. Dramatic.

~~~~~~~~~~

"You know Serran told me you used a spell on her yesterday." Aranik says.

He's been following you around lately and you've been trying your best to ignore him, only giving blunt, one word answers to everything he says unless you have no choice but to say more. It might be foolish since this is your boss but the bratty side of you doesn't care since you have Bonnie. You technically don't need this job anymore and can quit at any moment.

"I had to."

"Ah yes, because you two got into a fight."

"I'm sorry, but if I didn't do that to her I would be dead. Your daughter attacked me."

"No, I know that. It's perfectly fine. I'm not mad. Actually kind of impressed."

You stay quiet and just keep walking, not liking where he's trying to go.

"Not many can cast a spell first try - and have it be powerful enough to repel someone like Serran." He steps closer. "You must have some real power hidden away underneath that quiet, innocent nature."

"Uh-huh."

He tuts. "I think His Majesty's rubbing off on you. Please don't become a mini version of him, one's bad enough. Although that does remind me..."

You grit your teeth for what he's about to say but instead he just grabs you and pulls you into his office, slamming the door closed once both of you are inside.

"Serran told me you're with His Majesty." He narrows his eyes at you. "Romantically."

You don't respond due to still having your brain not processing what just happened. You do know that you aren't happy with where this is going.

"So what's that about, huh?" He asks, getting angry.

"What do you mean?"

"Why are you with him, y/n!?" He points at you. "What were you thinking? I told you to be careful around him and now look what you've done."

You huff. You've been through this with both Serran and Irreth. Practically everyone you know hates the choice you made, aside from Bonnie himself and Ex. You don't even care if they're right at this point, you just want to be left alone. The constant nagging and complaining all for what? They don't even know Bonnie. Neither do you in a way but you certainly get his good side.

"That is none of your business what I chose to do."

"I told you to be careful."

"And I am! What says that I'm not? He told me upfront, if he was as bad as you all are saying, I would already be dead, but I'm not. Big surprise."

Aranik is quiet for a second. "You know...I remember when you were quiet, small, innocent and nervous. What happened to you? Is His Majesty really that big of an influence?"

He starts to walk towards you. It's so sad to think about the fact you can't use another spell until, at least tomorrow. Bonnie told you this shortly after he carried you home after fighting Serran. It's due to the fact you're human with no trace of any demon stuff in you. Your body isn't used to it, nor can really handle it, and so if you use it too much so suddenly, it can cause serious issues for you. Since he was impressed with you doing it first go, however, he's now set on making it so you can use it as much as you want, whenever you want, which begins with getting your body used to it and not fighting it off like some virus.

"You were so shy." Aranik steps in front of you. "All you really have now is that you're still small and weak."

"I can handle myself."

"Oh really now?" He smiles. "I guess that stems from His Majesty, doesn't it? He's the one giving you all this confidence. You feel safe because he can destroy every issue you have well..."

You stare up at him, towering over you. You're kind of use to being dwarfed due to Bonnie being bigger than Aranik but it's just the smile and glint in his eye that spells out all the danger. That worry is immediately confirmed when he aggressively grabs your arms, digging his long fingers into them.

"Too bad he can't do it before it happens."

~~~~~~~~~~

This is where you start to panic. Mainly due to him being right unless some miracle happens.

"What are you going to do?"

He laughs and you get the idea. Now, you hope he kills you since you don't want to live with it. Even if you fight every second, you'll forever be plagued by it and all of it will be ruined because of one man. Something special will be corrupted. You start to step backwards and he moves with you until you bump into the desk.

"Wow, not going to show how scared you are, are you?" He says. "Don't you get it? I'm going to ruin your body."

"No. You're. NOT!"

With one move you put your hands on the desk so you can move all your energy into one giant kick to his stomach. You're kind of glad you were given heels now as they added to the pain. He's probably still going to get his way no matter how hard you try but that doesn't mean you don't have to make him feel as much pain as possible.

"You bashot!" He shouts after getting back up.

He glares at you for a second before running towards you as if about to tackle you. Unlucky for him you had grabbed some very sharp scissors off the desk and don't hesitate to drive them into his neck once he gets close enough. Now, you've never really done serious damage to someone before so as soon as blood starts spitting out you yelp and shove him away. He groans, yanking them out before tossing them away. Now he's angry. You try to run but he flings a ball of flames towards you, probably what Serran was about to do to you before stopping. It hits you and you go flying backwards, thankfully not catching on fire, but sadly, you instead get thrown into a spear of sorts, jutting out from something hanging on the wall. It goes straight through your arm. You don't stay pinned to the wall, however, since it snaps, sending you back onto the floor.

"I didn't want to do this to you, but of course you have to be a pain in the ass."

You don't pay attention to what he's saying as all you're doing is groaning and bracing yourself with your good hand on the spear. Once motion, one pull, and it's out. You can't celebrate though since Aranik is right in front of you and immediately grabs you. Apparently, the material of your uniform is weak since it doesn't even take two seconds for him to rip your top in half with barely any strength. Now you're injured, dizzy, loosing blood, barely conscious and topless.

"I hate you." You say throughout gritting teeth.

"Good."

He throws you to the side and your skirt rips off as well so you're in nothing but your undergarments. After letting yourself somewhat recover and stand up, you grab something that looks sharp - which is another spear on the wall. You chuck it at him like a javelin and although your vision is spinning, you know you hit him. The scream is more than enough evidence.

~~~~~~~~~~

Your whole body starts to go numb as the amount of blood you've lost continues to grow. This is the end. You can't fight anymore. You've failed. There's heavy footsteps darting towards you but everything instantly goes silent when a single noise enters both your ears and Aranik's. A knock at the door. He growls and grabs you so he can stuff you inside a cabinet. There's a hole in it so you can see outside, however.

"Open this door and I'll make you wish you were dead." He says before storming over to the office door.

Your heart rate picks up dramatically when he greets the person there.

"Your Majesty! What are you doing here?"

Bonnie.

"You've gotten another one of these." He hands Aranik a letter. "And I need to see the your record of them."

Aranik tuts and lets him in. Just seeing Bonnie gives you the strength to stay conscious. All you have to do is open the door.

"You seem on edge." Bonnie says.

"So do you."

"I have my reasons."

"So do I." Aranik start to walk to another door.

Bonnie starts to follow but really slowly, letting Aranik get ahead and enter the room before he's even close to it. The second Aranik disappears into that room, you slam your hands into the doors, sending them flying open and you go tumbling out. You're already bawling your eyes out as you do, screaming incoherently for Bonnie. He's right next to you before you even look at him. Aranik's quick to realise what's happened and is even quicker bolting out the door, so fast you don't even get a chance to tell Bonnie but being honest he wouldn't have really cared as his main concern is you at the moment. Now, however, you know you're safe and that the danger is gone so you feel yourself slipping into unconsciousness. Bonnie's saying something but you don't understand a word of it as your vision blurs and everything becomes heavy. You feel yourself sink down as all you can really identify is the smell of vanilla.

Sweet, comforting, vanilla.


	18. Don't Do It

"Am I dead?"

"No, you're not dead."

Slowly, you open your eyes while they feel like steel doors rather than eyelids. They strain at the bright lights before adjusting and the first thing you see is Bonnie, sitting beside the bed you're in. He's seems tired. The ready to drop to the floor kind of tired.

"No offense but you look horrible." You say.

"Look who's talking." He holds your hand.

"She has more of an excuse, Your Majesty." Says Ex, not too far away. "You didn't have to sit there for an entire day without moving but you did."

You tut but Bonnie merely hushes you. You stare at him for a moment before trying to sit up, groaning as you do.

"Ex, would you be so kind and," Bonnie pushes you back down, "get y/n some water or something?"

"Of course, Your Majesty." Ex leaves the room.

~~~~~~~~~~

Bonnie looks at you but you just turn your attention to your injured arm. A bandage is wrapped around where the spear went through, covered in blood.

"How bad is it?"

"Now, it's not that bad. It'll just heal with time. We would've used magic to heal you but guess who can't have too much of that coursing through them." He leans closer.

"You said that you'll help me with that."

"And I still will."

"Hm... What happened after I passed out?"

"I just got you here. Aranik fled somewhere and I've ordered for him to be captured, dead or alive. That's it really."

"There wasn't a lot of panic, was there?"

"Uh, not really but when I brought you out there sort of was." He looks off to the side and nods. "A lot were worried for you."

You look to where he's staring at and you see a bouquet of flowers on the table next to the bed. There all different colours and are all glowing while constantly moving - slowly.

You start. "Irre-"

"Serran. Irreth hasn't been here yet."

You immediately turn your head to look at him but all he does is shrug. Your supposed enemy came to see you before your supposed friend. Maybe she's still mad at you - but so would Serran.

You shake your head. "When can I get out of here?"

"When you're better."

You frown at him and he holds both your hands.

"Sweetheart, don't push yourself. You won't be here forever, and I'm not letting you out until you're able to do so."

"But I'm able to do so now."

"No you're not."

"You're underestimating me."

"Maybe." He kisses your hand. "I'm sure you'll prove that to me one day."

"Today."

"No."

You mumble and shift closer to him, sitting up so you can hug him. The second your head touches his shoulder, you can feel every bit of stress. So tense.

"Does anyone ever massage you?" You ask.

"Not really, why?"

You flick his shoulder. "You're like a rock."

"What do you expect, sweetheart? Don't you realise what happened to you?"

"But I'm ok now."

"I know, but I'm still worried. You can't change that."

You quietly sigh and snuggle back onto his shoulder since - despite his tenseness - it's still comfortable. You haven't given much thought to what happened and a part of you hopes it stays that way as you want it to rot away in your mind as quickly as possible.

~~~~~~~~~~

The door opens and Ex walks through it, holding a single glass of water in his hand. Bonnie only lets you go once Ex reaches the side of your bed to hand you the glass.

"What's the plan now?" You sip the water.

"What do you mean?"

"Like, what's going to happen from now, on-wards?"

"Just look after you." Bonnie shrugs.

You glance at Ex and see his expression. That's not all. You decide to ask something that may cause some uncomfortable feelings.

"Wasn't Aranik the one in charge of the trading between Pix and Tiroponla? What are you going to do about that?"

"I'll figure something out."

"Your Majesty." Ex says flatly.

"I will, I promise."

Ex sighs and softly shakes his head.

"He's a pain, isn't he Ex." You say.

"Yes, yes he is."

"Don't team up. That's not fair." Bonnie looks between the two of you.

You smile at him and he returns it. Admittedly, a part of you is disappointed since you want to see a genuine smile from him and not his usual seductive grin. You wonder if you'll ever see it or even know what it looks like. Will it be small, cute, obvious, shy or still a sly smirk? You would ask Ex but you decide against it as Bonnie is right there. It would be funny if it was the complete opposite of what anyone would expect - small, shy and cute. He definitely leans towards the confident sides of things so having such a different smile would be so sweet.

~~~~~~~~~~

A little notification sound emanates from something from Bonnie's belt but he merely tosses it to Ex and tells him to deal with it, all while not breaking a single second of eye contact with you. Neither do you, however, even for as much as it makes you uncomfortable. Ex quickly leaves - again - and so you're left alone with Bonnie - again.

"Sweetheart..." He says.

"What?" You respond quietly.

"Now that you're up. Why don't you tell me what happened?"

You stare at him for a second before looking straight ahead and sighing. He tenderly grabs your hand, however, and moves you closer to him.

"Um. He was talking to me and got angry about us being together, brought me into his office and then...tried it... I fought him off and then you showed up and now I'm here."

"What about your arm?"

"Oh, he tossed me to the wall and a spear went right through it."

Bonnie stares blankly at your arm. That would explain why there's so much blood soaking the bandage. You move closer again and rest your head on his shoulder so he can't see it, as if that's going to make him feel better. There's a sense of anger in him, wanting so bad to be shown or expressed in some way, but of course, he must keep his stone faced appearance. Like always.

~~~~~~~~~~

"Didn't you say that you would be working on getting me used to demon spell, magic, stuff?"

"Yes, but I can't do that until you're better."

"Not even a little?" You look up at him.

"Sweetheart, no."

"You can try."

You hold one hand up to him and he stares at it for a moment before slowly shaking his head. You smile as he holds it and the same dark mist you've seen before wraps around both his hand and yours. Almost immediately you feel warm and fuzzy inside so you snuggle up closer to him. You key into how he's holding your hand, his thumb gently pressing into your palm like a massage. Every time he increases the pressure, the feeling running around inside you gets stronger. It's almost like the sensation one gets when drinking a hot drink while being deathly cold, and you feel the warmth spread around you. You mumble quietly and zone out as Bonnie oh so delicately moves your hand he's holding to your chest.

~~~~~~~~~~

You don't know how long you sit there but you know it's a very sudden shift in feeling when Bonnie stops and lets go of your hand.

"Now I'm cold."

He chuckles and sits you up right. "Well, you should be able to do that by yourself one day."

"Will it be hard?"

"Most likely."

You mumble and grab his hand. "How do you do it?"

"It's natural for me. I've said this before, sweetheart."

"I know that but, like, how? Do you tense your hand, do you have to really concentrate or what?"

"I used to be like that." He rubs his fingers together and what seems to be tiny stars circle around them. "But now, I just sort of...do it."

"How long did it take you to master it?" You tilt your head.

"A while."

He knows what you're doing. You had thought you would be able to cleanly slide into a conversation about his past but he's seemingly caught you already, just judging by the blunt answer he gave you. It feels like you were close, however, for some reason. Maybe it's just the fact his eye contact with you has suddenly become shifty, and he can't seem to look at you directly for more than a few seconds.

"Your whole life kind of while or....?"

"No. It was less than a year."

"That seems fast."

"I had help."

"From?"

"Why are you asking?"

You freeze for a second when he stops moving and looks you dead in the eyes, his grip on your hand tightening. You wish there was a warning of sorts before he went all scary.

"I-I was just wondering."

"Right..." He nods slowly.

Hearing his voice makes you question things as he doesn't sound upset in any way. There's a hint of some sort of satisfaction as if he wants you to keep asking questions - but that would go against his want to keep it all a secret.

~~~~~~~~~~

As you shift uncomfortably and mumble, as his stare is starting to get to you, he smiles. No. He doesn't want you to find out. He just wants you to be scared and nervous.

He lays your hand flat, with your palm facing up. "How persistent are you going to be?"

"W-what do you mean?"

"You know exactly what I mean."

Very gently he starts drawing a circle on your palm, but it's not with his finger, however, but rather his claw. You instantly get goosebumps while trying to find a response from the tingly sensation it gives you.

"Well~?" He leans closer.

"I don't know." You say quietly.

He stops for a second. Only a second. You figure he wasn't satisfied with that answer so very slowly he continues running his claw over your skin, but this time he moves his hand up to your forearm, going up from your wrist to your elbow and back down repeatedly.

"Answer the question, sweetheart." He says.

You look between him and his hand - still moving along your forearm - trying to figure out how to respond as you honestly don't know how far you're going to go.

"Are you not going to stop until you get an answer? A full answer?" He says.

"I-I don't know...honest." You shake your head as you can't take it anymore and grab his hand. "Please stop."

"Will you stop trying to learn about my past?" He squeezes your hand.

"Yes." You nod.

"So you'll stop asking about it?"

"Yes."

He narrows his eyes at you to show his doubt and he has every right to do that as you weren't exactly being honest with your words. You will stop asking about it but only when it comes to him, so you're free to ask anyone else. It's wrong, maybe, but now that you're curiosity has been peaked about it, you won't rest until you get some sort of explanation. Sure there's the phrase 'curiosity killed the cat' but that also means you've got nine lives to burn so it can't be that bad. You don't necessarily need a full story - although that would be nice - but enough information so you can piece it together yourself is what you're looking for. It can't be that bad.

It can't.


	19. Clue

A week. That's what it took until you recovered - well - partially. Bonnie was doing a good job keeping your mind off of what happened by staying right beside you and talking to you but eventually - since he had been sitting there for days - he fell asleep. Your mind instantly latched onto what happened and now you've just felt off ever since the severity hit you. The only good thing was that you got to stare at Bonnie asleep and as a bonus, he's absolutely adorable when asleep. Permanently curled in a ball, looking so delicate and letting out the tiniest, purest mumble every time you touched him. It was hard to play off you're amusement when he woke up. All that was the only thing that kept you from bursting out into tears. 

~~~~~~~~~~

You got out of hospital two days ago and have done absolutely nothing aside stay in Bonnie's bed since then - which means you've been stuck in the exact same clothes for ages as all your stuff is still with Irreth - so that's been the lovely little cherry on-top of the gross feeling you've been having. All because Irreth doesn't trust what you're doing. It's still in question whether or not that doubt is justified, however, so she may very well be correct. You don't care though. So you'll be killed by the man you love, boo hoo. Out of all the things that can end you down in Hell, that seems like the best option to you as you don't trust anyone else but him. Not with you're life or death. Why would you?

~~~~~~~~~~

"Why don't I come with you, sweetheart?"

"That would make it worse."

To get yourself out of the house you've decided to go back to Irreth. Not to talk about anything, however, but rather to get all your stuff. Bonnie has convinced you to permanently stay with him, and so you will, despite a small part of you screaming to do the complete opposite. A small part. That's all. Telling and begging to run away. It's the part of you that believes Irreth and everyone else you've talked to, about Bonnie. He's dangerous, you're walking into your death, this is all a mistake, this is not what you need. 

"Well I doubt she'll get angry with you while I'm there." He steps in front of you.

"She'll just do it silently. Plus, it's the fact we're together is what's making her upset. Seeing you with me will make it worse."

"And finding out you're moving in with me won't?"

"I didn't say that. I'm just saying that you being there will make it worse." You walk past him to the door.

"So you keep repeating." He grabs your wrist. "Sweetheart, I'm coming with you whether you like it or not."

You sigh and look to the side of him only to see Ex standing not too far away, seemingly waiting.

"You're coming to?" You ask.

"At the command of His Majesty."

You frown and look at Bonnie.

"What?" He says. "You need us both with you, trust me."

"You're acting like Irreth is going to kill me in a second...she won't...right?"

Bonnie opens the door, dragging you with him. "It's not her I'm worried about."

That's all he leaves you with. No further explanation is given despite all your questions and demands for one. Ex doesn't know either apparently as he's just following his orders. If something does happen that has nothing to do with Irreth then that would raise even more questions, mainly how in the world he would know.

~~~~~~~~~~

It would be a lie if you told yourself you weren't enjoying walking with both Bonnie and Ex on either side of you, like personal bodyguards. You feel safe. Nice. Even all the anxiety about facing Irreth - if she's even home - is almost gone. You're fears about walking in public with Bonnie is completely gone. Sure people still stare for a few seconds but you're seemingly better at determining how they feel. They're all silently telling you 'good job'. You can definitely get used to this feeling.

~~~~~~~~~~

The thing is, however, is that your luck is seemingly set on a timer that runs out very quickly so any moment of success you have never lasts. This situation is no exception. It's fitting that you're walking down an extremely quiet area as well. There's no warning either. It's just silent, and then all of a sudden someone jumps in front of the three of you. You don't get to see who immediately as Bonnie hides you behind himself but the voice is enough to make you panic.

"I heard you were looking for me, Your Majesty?" Aranik says.

Bonnie wacks Ex's arm, who simply presses a button he got from seemingly thin air. 

"Oh, but will they get here in time?" Aranik puts the back of his hand to his forehead dramatically. "Why don't you drag me there yourself, Your Majesty? Oh wait, sorry, I forgot. You won't, lest you rip me to shreds and we can't have that can we? Wouldn't want to upset the innocent eyes and show them who you really are...Hi y/n."

He leans to the side to see you and you wave before hiding more behind Bonnie.

"Has he told you yet, my lovely? About his own 'moral code' that he has because he doesn't want to upset his family despite them being gone. How he won't harm anyone unless it's absolutely necessary." He smiles. "Lucky for me him doing that now would be unnecessary as I'm not doing anything and people are already on the way to take me."

Bonnie shifts uncomfortably and pushes you behind Ex.

"Aw, did I hit a nerve? Your family, ooo, that's a buzz word isn't it? Now, I've seemingly got you in an... Unfortunate position, haven't I? I know you're past...y/n wants to know and you can't kill me lest you upset her. You'll make her terrified."

Bonnie looks at you before staring at the ground, such a dead look filling his eyes.

"How much has he told you already y/n? If any?"

"N-nothing." You say.

Aranik tuts. "Nothing? That's a bit rude, Your Majesty. She is your sweetheart after all. Doesn't she deserve to know?"

All Bonnie does is glare at him. Right into his soul, but Aranik isn't fazed by it so all he does is smile. A part of you wonders if this was all planned.

~~~~~~~~~~

"The punishment of telling is death." Bonnie finally talks.

"Just not by your hand."

He growls because Aranik is right. "What are you trying to do?"

"What do you think, genius? Y/n wants so badly to know about your past and you're too proud to say anything."

"That's not true."

"Uh-huh." Aranik looks at you. "What do you want to know first, y/n?"

Bonnie stops himself from saying something so only a mere yelp comes out before he looks at you, shaking his head. You look between him and Aranik. Stay quiet.

"Aw, she's too scared to ask." Aranik says. "Can't say I blame you to be honest. Well, why don't I start at the beginning?"

"Don't!" Bonnie shouts.

Words can't describe how much that made you jump. You've never heard him raise his voice and plus, he sounds livid.

"What? Start at the end? The middle? It's all the same really. Can't see what the fuss is about." Aranik steps back when Bonnie steps forward. "Now, now calm down. Why don't I give hints, hm? Like the fact you aren't a naturally born demon?"

"Stop."

"Oh come on, that part's obvious, don't get pissy."

You stare at Bonnie. His red dot pupils are bigger than usual - just like when you got into a fight with Serran - and every part of him seems to be tensed as far as it can go, showing how sensitive this subject is. 

Aranik starts slowly pacing around. "I remember when you first came to Hell. Oh, weren't you different back then. Lellella, I even remember the ring. Tamancus was so proud."

Bonnie growls again as his ear twitches. That hit a nerve.

"Names seem to be your weak spot, huh? Well - y/n - there are so many I can say as I know them all. Some are more sensitive than others I'm guessing."

A very guilty part of you wants to talk and ask things but you know how bad of an idea that is. It's to the point where you hope Bonnie doesn't hurt Aranik so you can talk to him when he's behind bars - supposedly - even after what he tried to do to you. That's how bad your curiosity is. That's how desperate you are. He has all the answers and is right there, more than happy to answer them all. You can't though. That would be so betraying to Bonnie.

~~~~~~~~~~

"You know what, y/n. I want to hear your guesses. What do you think his past is?"

You can feel Bonnie's eyes without even glancing at him. "I-I don't know."

"Do you think he was born into the royal family?"

"N-no..."

"Do you think he came from Earth?"

You go silent for a second. Just from the fact he asked that, specifically, makes you think that he did in fact start on Earth.

"I don't...know."

"Well he did. He wasn't the King from the beginning, but rather he became the King."

Now, you had promised to not prod at his past, and you had told yourself to not ask things right now and you meant that. You wanted to stay quiet to save Bonnie from whatever he's experiencing but sometimes you loose control of your tongue, especially when your brain is in panic mode. You didn't mean to say anything. It just slipped out. Curiosity is not to be messed with, however, so you lost the filter from thought to mouth for a split second. As soon as it became audible, you regretted everything.

"How..?"

"Sweetheart, please, be quiet." Bonnie stresses.

"Your Majesty!" Aranik smiles. "Where's your manners? She simply asked one question, don't shut her down like that. Anyway, it's a long story, y/n. I don't think I have time to explain but Ex knows, don't you? Mister quiet."

"Of course I know." Ex says bluntly.

"Oh, right. You're too loyal to say anything. Well... I'm sure there's plenty of hints laying around this place."

There's a siren off in the distance and Aranik tuts.

"It seems my time is running thin. Not to worry." He stops for a second before gasping and getting wide eyes. "If you're lucky, you could talk to them."

You're about to ask who but Ex covers your mouth. Probably for the best.

"His people." Aranik points at Bonnie. "The ones that tried all they could but failed. Dare I say their names."

"Stop it!" Bonnie raises his hand aggressively and Aranik falls to the floor. 

"What? Don't you love them anymore?"

Bonnie walks towards him.

"Not even mummy dearest?" He smiles.

"Stop talking." 

There's some strain in Bonnie's voice. It's so close to breaking. To crying.

"Oh come on, Your Majesty. Adam Crace? Tamancus - said that already. Or even...him?"

Bonnie raises his hand again but stops himself from doing whatever he was about to do when Aranik raises a hand.

"He would be most upset if you kill me. You were his precious little thing. A little bundle of joy. Now look at you." He shakes his head. "I feel bad for the man. He put everything he had into making you happy and look what you did. Poor, poor, Freddy Faz-"

"SHUT UP!!!"

~~~~~~~~~~

You don't get to see what happens since Ex grabs you and spins you to look away from Bonnie and Aranik. You don't even think you want to see whatever he does, especially since the scream that you hear shakes you to the core. So loud and full of pain. The only other thing you hear is a desperate yelp. Strained and shaky. Bonnie must be crying. 

"Your Majesty wait!" Ex calls out. 

There's a flash and then complete silence. You would look but Ex's grip on you prevents that. He sighs, however, and moves in front of you with that same hold, probably so you don't look at the body of Aranik.

"Are you alright?" He asks.

"I...I don't know. What happened to Bonnie?"

"He's...gone...right now. I don't know when he will return."

"What do you means he's gone?"

"I don't know where he went but it's not here but you mustn't worry about that. He just needs a moment to himself."

"I-is...Is his past really that bad and sensitive?"

Ex looks off to the side and tilts his head, sighing wile trying to find an answer.

"Not in the way you're thinking." He says. "Don't push it, y/n. Or at least not to him. Ok?'

You nod. "Ok."

"Good. Now, in my opinion, I think it would be best if we still continue to Irreth for your things as His Majesty might've gone back home and still needs a moment. Is that alright?"

You nod. No more questions. For now. You'll only be asking them to yourself, like who Freddy Faz-something is. By the way Aranik was talking, it sounded like he would be Bonnie's father but that can't be right. 

In a certain way.


	20. Comfort

"Do you think he's here?" You ask.

"I don't know. He'll most likely be on a balcony if he is."

You nod slowly. Ex and yourself went through with getting your belongings - which was very easy as Irreth wasn't home - and it's only now you've both returned home after Bonnie's little outburst.

"Um...so you probably won't explain much of what happened to me, right?"

"There isn't much to say. His past is very sensitive to him, hence the sudden burst of emotion."

"Right." You set some of your bags down and Ex does the same. "Aranik said something about the punishment of saying something is death. What's up with that?"

"It was a goal of His Majesty's shortly after he was crowned King. He wanted everyone that had been present in his past to keep there mouths shut. Never to utter a word about it. To reinforce this, he had those that did let some of it slip killed. Their heads were to be framed on various walls for all to see."

You nod. "What about you? You know, don't you?"

Ex freezes for a split second. "It...it goes a bit beyond just knowing. I was directly involved. I was the one who was with him throughout it all. He's perfectly fine with me as he knows that I'd be doing a lot more than hurting him if I said something."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm a shadow demon. We are always under the command of someone else, that's just our life. I spent my whole life training to be next to the royal power. I would be disrespecting His Majesty, myself, my people and everything I stand for if I betray my orders."

You nod. "What about the Tamancus guy Aranik mentioned?"

Ex chuckles slightly. "He was another one who was directly involved. In fact, he was more involved than me. Without Tamancus, His Majesty would've never become King and Hell... Hell would be in ruin. Unfortunately, he is no longer with us due to a... technical difficulty with a ritual."

You go silent for a second, looking off to the side. "What about whoever Aranik was about to mention? Freddy."

"That I can't talk about."

"At all?"

Ex tilts his head. "Eh, depends."

"Can I ask?"

"Sure, but I might not be able to answer."

You nod again. "I understand, um. Was he like, Bonnie's father or something?"

"No. The was no genetic relation since that... isn't possible."

"What about just relationship wise? Like was he a father figure to Bonnie?"

"It's possible. That one I genuinely don't know as I never got involved with the people he was close with. Tamancus did, however."

"There was more?"

"Yes."

~~~~~~~~~~

Despite Ex having virtually no features, you can tell you're already starting to push boundaries by the way he's looking at you. The issue is, however, is every answer you are given just raises more questions and makes the need to learn about it worse rather than satisfying it.

"If I learnt about his past. In some way. Would he k-kill me?"

"I highly doubt it. He only goes after those who say things about it. Plus, he loves you too much to do that."

"Soooo...is there a way I can learn more about it without having to risk someone telling me too much?"

Ex inhales sharply. "Uh, I believe so."

You stare at him. "Well?"

He shakes his head and mutters something in Enrata. "If you are really that set on learning more, then you can start here. Despite what His Majesty went through, he still keeps some things from his past with him. They're most likely hidden away in the depths of his room. Help from me stops there."

"Ok." You smile.

It's nice to finally feel like you've done something. Is it bad? Probably. You don't want the full story, however, but just enough that you don't enter your grave with the burning questions running through your head.

"Right." Ex pipes up. "Now, we have to find His Majesty."

For some reason you immediately get nervous - maybe even scared. What if he's still mad? You still stand up and follow Ex, however, despite the anxieties.

~~~~~~~~~~

Ex knows exactly where to go. There was no "finding" necessary. Up the stairs, to the left, through a couple of rooms, until a balcony. You stop walking when you see Bonnie. He's leaning of the railing, looking down, with the only thing on him moving is his cape as it flows in a breeze.

Ex looks at you. "You want me to talk to him first, I presume?"

You nod shyly. He puts a hand on your shoulder to say it's alright before walking towards Bonnie. You hide behind a corner. There's not really much reason for you to be scared. Bonnie loves you and would hopefully never hurt you - plus, all that he'll really be feeling is hurt or sadness. You peek around the corner and see Ex next to Bonnie, also leaning on the railing. No words can be heard, so you'll have to rely on body movements, since their backs are to you as well. Bonnie never moves throughout the conversation until Ex says something, which causes him to stand up straight and step away from Ex. When he does so, however, you see a little bird standing on the railing. It's adorable to say the least. It stares at Bonnie for a second before hopping closer to him and eventually it makes it's way to his shoulder where it snuggles into his neck. He lets it sit there while responding to whatever Ex said, even tilting his head towards it to make it more snug. You can see his the tenseness in him melt away when he does.

~~~~~~~~~~

Eventually, Ex seemingly manages to make Bonnie feel a little better as they both start walking towards where you are - the bird already gone. You duck further behind the corner, however, and let them walk right past you before following not too far behind. They go to his room and Bonnie enters while Ex walks towards you.

"Now it's your turn." He says.

You scrunch your face up slightly. "What if he just wants to be alone."

"Trust me when I say he doesn't. He needs you with him right now." He gently pushes you towards the door. "He's not mad in any way. Just really numb and lost at the moment so you'll be fine."

He keeps pushing you until you're completely in the room, which he then just shuts the door. You walk further into the room, looking around, and find Bonnie standing in the kitchen. He's not doing anything. Just standing there. In the corner. Back facing you.

"Bonnie?"

His ears perk up and twitch at the sound of your voice. His shoulders start to turn for a fraction of a second before stopping, meaning he wants to face you. You don't mind, however, and just slowly make your way closer to him, making sure to make some noise so he knows where you are. When you're directly behind him, you carefully wrap your arms around him, snuggling your head into his back. Instantly, he puts his hands on yours but it seems to be a very tender grip.

"Are you feeling better?" You ask.

"Yeah..."

His voice is different again and he just sounds so defeated which breaks your heart. You're about to tighten your grip on his but he slowly pushes your arms off him. He doesn't let go, however.

~~~~~~~~~~

He turns around and his face is simply full of so many rushing emotions. There is also to dark circles on just above and slightly next to his temples, sort of where horns would go. That's not what gets your attention though. What gets that, is the look in his eyes. Now, you've only slept with him once, and that you barely were conscious for, but the look he gave you then was a look anyone can recognise. The idea you have is further proved when he puts his hands on your arms to spin you around him so he's basically got you stuck in the corner, oh so close to him. There's another look on his face that shows that he himself is unsure of what he's doing so you smile at him and grip his collar to pull him closer. It wouldn't be the first time you've done it with him, but it will be the first time you're doing it with full control of your body all while being actually aware of what's going on. This does make apart of you extremely nervous but you suppress that as best you can for him. He wants comfort sex and you can't help but see that as really sweet for some reason. Maybe it's just because he actually finds comfort in doing that with you - despite he's only done it one other time with you. The basic idea of it is really cute to you and just makes him seem so sincere and precious - that he would even feel that way while doing that with you. Safety or sense of healing.

~~~~~~~~~~

Although he doesn't smile, you can tell he's happy and so he doesn't hesitate to begin kissing you. This is different from what you do remember. This one seems more loving and gentle, while the other time was pure lust. It's slow, with a pattern of sorts, like a dance and you couldn't have melted into it any faster. Bonnie still doesn't waste much time getting you closer to the bed, however, and you understand that but that doesn't mean you can't be a little difficult. Just before you make contact with the bed, you stop kissing him and step away. He instantly knows what you're doing and tries grabbing you, which you dodge. There's no describing how satisfying it is to see him smile at you, even if it's a very lustful. Just the idea, that he is able to will himself to do so is what's making you happy. Another thing that grabs your attention is that the circles on his head from before have become brighter and are faintly glowing red. You vaguely remember this from last time. Extremely vaguely. His tongue, something on his head and something at the back of him all glowed a bright red, just like his eyes, while you two were in the moment. What could it be? It's tied to sexual arousal, clearly so maybe if you tease him some more, whatever is appearing on him will come faster.

~~~~~~~~~~

That is easily accomplished as he walks towards you while unbuttoning his shirt - cape and crown already on the floor. This time you stay still and let him get in front of you. Now that his shirt is off, you can touch him all you want, which is exactly what you do, all while carefully watching the circles on his head. Something is starting to protrude outwards. You let him slide his hands onto you and start to take your top off as you merely stand, staring up at him. Despite the fact he's undressing you and exposing you, you can't help but feel safe. He's just so tall and muscular. You'd think that would be intimidating, but no, you're anything but intimidated.

~~~~~~~~~~

Bonnie caresses your cheek after staring at you for a moment and then he gently kisses you - which you return. Your arms are around his lower back and you feel something brush up against it slightly, making you yelp quietly and jump away from him. Now you know what those glowing things were. His tongue is the only one you perfectly recognise and remember, but the other two are faded into your mind. On his head where the circles were, are two horns and you can see a tail behind him, slowly swishing from side to side. They're both a glowing, bright, red and are slightly transparent. As Bonnie steps closer to you, you can see some Enrata written on them, spelling something out.

"Something the matter, sweetheart?"

You gently smile. "What's this?"

You reach one hand behind him to grab his tail and the other to one of his horns, making him twitch at the touch.

He grabs your hips and pulls you towards the bed. "Never you mind that."

You keep touching them, however, especially his tail. You gently rub your thumb against it while holding it and it's seemingly a sensitive spot just judging by Bonnie's reactions. Suddenly, he grabs both your wrists and holds them up near your shoulders, leaning in close to your face. You can't tell if it's purring or growling you hear.

"Get on the bed..."


	21. Daring (Part One)

What to do, what to do. All you've done thus far is pace around and briefly look at things. There was a small interaction this morning with Bonnie when he woke up, but that was just you telling him to stay in bed - which surprisingly, he did. After you got him a drink and got him comfortable, he fell right back asleep with no issue. A bit odd for him but you're not complaining.

~~~~~~~~~~

Since he's not awake to notice anything you do, all that's been in your mind is the urge to snoop around - mainly to find out about the things Bonnie keeps from his past that Ex was talking about the day previous. It has become your goal now. This urge is probably why you've been walking around aimlessly, since you're arguing with yourself. Ex had said that Bonnie would never hurt you but there is still a fear of what he would do if he woke up and found you poking through all his stuff from the past - especially since it's been made very clear how sensitive it is. Maybe he wouldn't mind - or at least not be as mad as you're picturing in your mind. It doesn't help that you already have an idea on where to look. A room you haven't been in yet next to the little kitchen. You're going to hold off on exploring the rest of the house, outside of Bonnie's room, as it's simply too big.

~~~~~~~~~~

You stare at the door you wish to enter while sitting on the foot of the bed, just beside Bonnie's leg. He's still fast asleep, only occasionally stirring or mumbling incoherently. You let out a big sigh and look at him, cautiously placing a hand on his leg which makes him hum deeply. He can be so cute sometimes. Gently, you squeeze as you look off to the side blankly.

"I'm sorry..." You whisper.

Slowly, you get up, keeping an eye on him as part of you thinks he'll wake up at any second. You keep this gaze - walking backwards - until you bump into the door, immediately grabbing the handle and opening it without hesitation as a means to stop overthinking it. Once inside, you close the door just as quickly.

~~~~~~~~~~

It's a dressing room of sorts and for as much as you want to look at everything in it, that's not what you're here for - although you don't know exactly what that is either. You settle on just having a quick look inside all the wardrobes and draws, only doing a thorough search if something jumps out at you. Maybe this is a awful idea but you've already committed so now you won't be satisfied until you've found at least one thing. Just one. You repeat that in your mind constantly as you open a door or draw and look briefly. You just need to find enough that you don't die with such a plaguing curiosity stuck to you. Once you've done that, all with be well - hopefully. Maybe.

~~~~~~~~~~

You've just about searched everywhere and are about to close the last door when something at the very back, pressed up against the wall, catches your attention. A small box. Immediately, you push past everything and grab it as if it's the key to your existence, dragging it to the center of the room. After a deep breath and small pause, you carefully open it. You don't know what to expect or if it will be what you're even looking for but now you can't go back. You have to see what's inside. For some reason, the urge to brace jumps at you so you wince whilst raising the lid, only relaxing once it's completely removed and laying on the floor beside the box. For a few seconds, you don't know what you're looking at so you randomly grab something. A folded piece of paper. A very old one. It's slightly tinted yellow with wrinkles covering the entire thing - the creases are almost a pure white like it's been folded and unfolded repeatedly. Once you spread it out, it turns out to be a newspaper clipping, that's been ripped out, about some family restaurant. The name gets your attention, however, as it's the same name Aranik said before Bonnie lost his temper. Freddy. It was his restaurant for families and, according to the newspaper, it was awarded some sort of prize. What is was for, you can't tell, as the rest of the article is gone and what remains is badly faded out. There's a picture as well, of what you assume is Freddy, being given the award. He looks so happy. You have never seen this kind of pure joy in anyone's face before and it's kind of giving off an energy due to that. Maybe that's why Bonnie kept it. After blankly staring at it for a moment, you carefully fold it back up and put it back in the box.

~~~~~~~~~~

As you look at the other items in the box, you realise that the newspaper clipping was seemingly the most telling of the bunch since everything else is just small, random objects that you don't have any context for. They probably have just have much sentimental value as the paper but you can't figure it out and so slowly, you place the lid back on. It would be a lie if you were to tell yourself you aren't slightly disappointed. You were hoping for something bigger that would lead to another and then another, going down a long rabbit hole so you can satisfy your curiosity and move on. But no. You don't get that. Maybe that's a good thing. Sighing, you pick the box up and return it to it's little hidy-hole in the wardrobe, making sure it's just how you found it.

~~~~~~~~~~

Bonnie's still asleep but you find him tossing and turning a lot, meaning he might wake up soon. You don't get any time to really find out however as there's a soft knock at the door - which you go and immediately open.

"Y/n, sorry to bother." Says Ex.

"You're no bother at all. Do you need Bonnie for something?"

"No. I've been given a message to pass onto you." He hands you a little note.

"For me?" You look at it, puzzled.

Ex nods and quickly looks deeper into the room as if checking up on Bonnie. He leaves before you can ask questions but as you unfold the note, you realise you don't need to ask questions. A part of you thought it would be Serran's note, with a scribbled on map, leading you to a very dangerous place. Instead you see it's from Irreth, who you haven't talked to in two weeks.

~~

It reads:  
Hey y/n, just saw all your stuff is gone. (I'm guessing you've moved in with His Majesty.) I know it's been a while and you're probably still mad at me but I want to at least end our relationship on a good note so how about you come back for a little chat and maybe some drinks.

Love,  
Irreth <3

~~

You turn your nose up at the note as suspicion grows in you. The tone of it seems like how Irreth was acting when you first met her and nothing like how she had been before you stopped talking to her. Normally, you would be overjoyed to read something like that as it would mean you might get a friend back, but now all you can think of is that she just wants to gain your trust again for the future. It's too friendly when thinking about how angry she was at you. Also, some of the words she used in the note just gave you bad vibes. Mainly about having your 'relationship' end on a good note and how it said 'Love Irreth' at the end. She most likely meant it in a platonic way but for some reason it just gave you chills - your mind even flashing back to Aranik. Any mention of love from someone who you don't want it from turns your stomach but despite all this, you decide to go and see her anyway. Your mindset was that if you could overpower Serran, then you could do the same to Irreth. That probably isn't a smart thing to think in a world full of demons, capable of doing so much you can't.

~~~~~~~~~~

You tense up and grip the note, causing it to crumple up slightly, while looking back at Bonnie - seemingly back in his deep sleep. You've always got him. You step outside the room and make your way to the front door.

"Ex?" You say when you see him downstairs.

"Yes, y/n?"

"Tell Bonnie I'm going to Irreth's house when he wakes up."

He nods. "Of course but can I ask why you're going there?"

"She wants to talk."

You haven't looked at Ex during this conversation. You can feel your body tensing up and relaxing constantly but you still don't look at him for some reason. Ex looks like he's about to ask something else but you just walk to the front door and leave. You're so on edge.

~~~~~~~~~~

You're biting your lip so hard. It'll probably Start bleeding soon. You're right outside Irreth's apartment with your hand hovering over the door, ready to knock. Deep breaths and then...knock. Just one. That's all it takes apparently since the second the noise rings out, the door opens with Irreth standing there, a bright smile on her face.

"Y/n! I didn't think you would come!" She says, happily.

You are questioning her so much right now and it takes every bit of strength you have to not pull a face or shake your head at her. There is no way she is back to her old self. It has been two weeks so maybe she's been thinking a whole lot about what's happened but still, there would be at least some cracks, especially when seeing you again and knowing nothing's changed. You force a small smile and nod, noticing how she looks you up and down in a very judgmental way - or maybe you're just overthinking it. Either way, you just study her right back. She's really dolled up so you suspect she's been doing her acting stuff or just got back from some event. That makes you remember the guy she went out with. That can be your backup plan. Just based on how fixated she was on him, you think that if she starts saying things you don't like then you can just ask about him to get her to ramble. Maybe. You'll do anything if she starts prodding at you just to shut her up. You don't even care that she used to be a friend for...not even that long. As you think about it, you get kind of angry. It was barely the twelfth day of knowing her when you had the argument and stopped talking. All this fuss for someone you don't really know in reality. You squeeze your hands in frustration.

It's just like Serran in a way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies about the very abrupt hiatus, but just to let you all know, the upload schedule will have to change from once a week to once every other week. If you have any questions feel free to ask.


	22. Daring (Part Two)

There's a slightly different atmosphere in the house - which hits you the second you step inside. It may be just due to your nerves, however. You look around as if trying to find whether or not anything's different from the last time you were here and surprisingly, there isn't. Even you're bed seems untouched.

"Soooo...." You turn to Irreth, awkwardly. "What did you want to talk about?"

She smiles and walk over to you. "There was nothing in particular. I just wanted to see you and catch up. See how you are - that sort of thing."

You nod. Something's not right. There's a specific tone in her voice that you can't pin point and see keeps playing with her hair every time she looks at you.

"Well, ask away." You say, sitting on the side of your old bed.

"I'm guessing you're still with His Majesty?" Irreth collapses on her bed.

"Yes. If you're just going to scold me about it again - don't."

"Don't be so touchy." She smiles.

That was a forced smile so you know she's still upset about it. You don't care. You're done with arguing with everyone about it.

"What's it like? Being with him?" She looks at the floor.

"It's really nice."

"Does he care about you a lot?"

"Yeah?" You lean down to try and see her expression. "Irreth, what are you getting at?"

"Nothing!" She suddenly sits up straight. "I was just wondering.... Does he take you out on dates a lot?"

"We've only been together for a little over two weeks. But just based on that time - no."

Her eyes light up slightly. "H-have you two...um.... You know....yet? After you're possession."

"Yes..."

Irreth looks down at the floor again. "Do you...like it?"

What kind of a question is that? You don't even know how to respond as it's none of her business. Plus, it sounds like she's trying to get at something specific buy doesn't have the courage to do it.

"Why?" You say.

"Do you?"

"Yes. Why are you asking such a weird question?"

She goes silent and squeezes both her hands, eyes closed tightly while she's biting her lip. As your mind tries to figure out what's going on, there's a single thought that pops up, that would explain a lot. Does she want Bonnie? It would explain these questions and possibly even how she got angry before. She was jealous. Maybe. That theory is hard to believe, however, but you still want to ask.

~~~~~~~~~~

"Irreth, you wouldn't lie to me, right?" You say after a brief silence.

"No. I would never lie."

"Then answer this simple question. Do you want Bonnie? Do you love him?"

"No." She shakes her head. "Never in a million years."

"Then why are you asking about what kind of lover he is?"

"I'm not asking to learn about him..."

"I don't follow."

"Don't worry about it, y/n!" She adjusts herself on the bed - clearly uncomfortable. "So how have you been lately?"

"Good." 

"That's it?" She tilts her head. "Nothing exciting happened or anything?"

"No." You answer instantly.

"Hmm. Have you seen Serran recently?"

"No. But she did send me a lovely bouquet of flowers, which was kind of weird coming from her."

"Did she now..." Irreth frowns slightly. "Were they all glowing different colours and swaying by themselves?"

"Yeah."

She shakes her head. "Bashot."

"Wha-"

"What're you planning for the future?"

"I-I don't know? I'm not really one for planning my every step."

"Does His Majesty want to do anything?"

"Not that I know of."

"Do I get invited to the wedding?" She smiles.

You frown at her. "Don't you think it's a bit to early to be thinking of marriage?"

"Do I look like I care?"

~~~~~~~~~~

The two of you continue to chat, bouncing from topic to topic but somehow always going back to Bonnie and his relationship with you - much to your annoyance. It was going relatively smoothly with Irreth doing most of the talking and you only giving short, emotionless answers, but then she says something that just doesn't sit right.

"You know..." She starts. "You've changed so much from when I first met you."

"How so?" You raise an eyebrow.

"Well, you're not as shy and cute. You've got this barrier up and being honest... You're kind of like a mini version of His Majesty. The cold outward appearance but everyone knows there's a lot of emotions buried within. You know? You've got a lot more backbone and are actually starting to act like you belong here. I-in a good way, of course."

She most likely meant this in a completely nice way but the mention of being a mini version of Bonnie just makes your mind flash back to Aranik when he said to not become just that. Also, saying how you used to be so shy, nervous, small, weak. All those thoughts just make you angry.

"Are you upset that I'm different?" You ask, flatly.

"No." An extremely subtle smile creeps on her face.

"Then why bring it up?"

"I just noticed it." She shrugs. "I thought it was... interesting."

"Right..." You nod slowly.

You don't like the look she occasionally gives you. It almost seems like that's the reason she's avoiding your line of sight, to stop herself from looking at you like that.

~~~~~~~~~~

"Do you...think that you and His Majesty will work out together?"

"I don't know."

"Do you hope it does?"

"Of course I do." 

"What if it doesn't?"

You go silent for a moment. "Uh...I-I don't know. I'll move on, I guess?"

Irreth nods. "Do you think that you'll find someone else afterwards?"

"I don't know."

"I think it'll be good for you. Especially if you...expand you're uh... Preferences."

"Um...right. Uh, how long did you want me to stay?" You look around for a clock.

"Why? Do you have to leave already? You practically just got here." Panic hits Irreth's face, mixed with disappointment.

"Y-yeah. I was thinking you just wanted to do a small catch up." You stand up. "Bonnie wanted me back quickly."

"Wait, y/n."

"Alright, I wish you the best." You open the door. "Bye, Irreth!"

You hear her call out to you again but you close the door too quickly to know what she said.

~~~~~~~~~~

You don't know if she came running after you as you swiftly jog your way down the hall and down one set of stairs to the entrance of the building. What exactly made you panic and feel the need to get out is unclear. The sensation just sprung on you and so here you are, basically running away. You don't know if Irreth was gearing up to say something of great importance but you figure if it was really urgent, she would've made a better attempt to keep you. All she did was call your name. It doesn't matter now. You've left and most likely won't come back without an incredibly good reason to. Irreth loves going out so you know this won't be the last time talking to her. You don't know if you want that. You do know one thing, however. You certainly don't want to see Serran again but since you've been seemingly doomed with relatively bad luck, guess who you bump into.

~~~~~~~~~~

"What's up with you?" She says as you just stare at her, panting from running.

"Nothing." You respond flatly.

"You just like looking like you were almost murdered?"

"Sure. Let's go with that."

Something's wrong with her. She's not acting the same and there's a distant look on her face as if she isn't entirely connected to reality. Then you remember. Aranik was her dad. Who is now dead.

"Um..." You stutter out, kind of feeling bad. "Thank you for the flowers."

A very small smile flashes on her face for a fraction of a second. "You're welcome."

You nod and start to walk away, thinking that she's either extremely heartbroken or planning something awful to do to you. Unless of course, you're just being paranoid and she's not doing anything but minding her own business - which admittedly, is hard to believe.

"And y/n!" She calls out, making you turn and face her. "I-I know this will mean absolutely nothing to you but... I am so sorry for what my father tried to do to you. Truly."

All you do is nod and subtly smile. The tone of her voice seems truthful so you at the very least try to make her feel better. You can't even believe that this is Serran and a part of you doesn't care that she's acting so differently, even being somewhat happy. She smiles back and walks away. It's kind of funny. Serran and Irreth seem to be switching places - roughly. They'll always have their unique quirks but there are some parts of them that seem to lap over. You shake your head, giggling quietly as you swiftly turn on your heel and start to walk. You feel like these two are going to drive you crazy until the day you die and honestly, you don't exactly mind that idea - at least on Serran's side. You can help her. You know you can. She can hate and envy you all she wants but you will help her. She doesn't have a father or mother and is seemingly on her own. How sad.

~~~~~~~~~~

"Where have you been?" Bonnie asks.

"Didn't Ex tell you?"

"Yes, but I want to hear it from you."

You laugh and collapse next to him on the bed. "You sure are protective."

He hums in that sensual deep voice of his and wraps his arm around you. "Why wouldn't I be, sweetheart?"

"Irreth's harmless."

"Ha! No she's not."

"How would you know? I thought you knew nothing about her?"

"I used to know nothing."

You sit back slightly and give him a very confused look, about to ask question him, but he just kisses you suddenly as a means to stop that. You do hear him whisper in your ear that he's sure you can figure it out yourself before furthering his kissing. You just can't catch a break here. You kind of like it though. There's always something to do. Something for you to do. It's like you now have something close to a goal, or a purpose. It's meaningless the things you're doing, but you don't care. You've had quite the adventure so far and it's barely been a month since your arrival. There's much more to come in your opinion and there is a lot to back that up. Bonnie seems to know this as well, based on his laugh after you smile at what he said. He knows you'll go down any rabbit hole you find. This is probably dangerous behavior but, this is Hell. What isn't dangerous?

"You know..." Bonnie whispers. "I think you're perfect for this world."

You smile at him as you drape your arms around his neck. You don't know if he genuinely means that or is just trying to be sweet but you can't help but feel empowered by those words. The King of demons thinks you're perfect for what he rules over. You nuzzle into his neck gently as you can't believe what you're about to say to him.

"You're absolutely right..."


	23. A/N: I Hate This Story

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is not a new chapter and there probably won't be one for a long time. Apologies for the inconvenience.

Ok, so I was reading through this story (or trying to) since it's been so long since I've even thought about it and I've come to conclusion that I don't like it. It's clunky, confusing, too fast paced and just not how I wanted it to be - at least now.

I think I made Hell too nice, what with the head-start it gives you and demons willing to give you a place to stay with no reason and all that. I'm not saying I want an completely awful place but definitely not the sunshine and rainbows this one seems to be. It also makes actual horror moments seem really out of place and a completely different tone of story. Like chapter 6 for example.

The relationship with Bonnie was too fast and seemed forced. He just seems to latch onto the reader with no reason, almost creeper like. Which is definitely not how I want him to be. The mix of him being suave and confident while also being delicate and emotional wasn't handled very well and also seemed too sudden. I think that was because I completely changed his backstory half way through, which screwed everything up dramatically. I want him to still be a smooth flirt but I don't want him to be almost forcing himself towards the reader and then begging them to be with him. Which is controlling and fucked up. I was thinking to make him just be a flirt with zero feelings for anyone. Like, he just wants to make people flustered. But as time goes on he realises that he does in fact have feelings for the reader and that's when he softens up and becomes a lot more loving. Then there's the issue of him being King. What kind of King would flirt around with people?? So that needs more work.

The reader barely seems to be in love with him too. Sure they think he's good looking and cool but that's it. There's no daydreaming about him, wanting to be with him or anything. In fact, it's kind of the opposite. I'm not saying that just because they're nervous, they don't want him but there should be something. Also, I kept repeating how this is the King and how the reader can't believe it. Too. Many. Goddamn. Times.

Secondary characters. Irreth, Serran, Ex and Aranik. Ex is staying. I love him too much but the others I'm not too sure of. Serran is too much of a daddy's princess and I don't like how obsessed I made her with Bonnie. Irreth is that cliche friend - the overly happy and quirky one - so she definitely needs a redo. But, I do think the reason I don't like them is because their arks in the story were too fast. I never wrote them but I definitely planned them. Serran goes from being how she is, to being the reader's bff and Irreth goes from how she is to being the reader's enemy. They basically swap which isn't interesting. I think Serran has a better chance of staying in the story than Irreth since Irreth doesn't really provide anything to the story but an unnecessary, boring obstacle that can be solved by just not talking to her anymore. Aranik is too much like Desmond in my other story, mainly because I have a bad habit of throwing someone in there who will basically have the hots for the reader in a not so good way - kind of like a love triangle. Since I've already done that, I need to change it drastically so this story isn't just a different version of the others.

The plot itself is bland. Nothing's been happening and there's no over arcing issue that needs to be solved. It's just - reader goes to Hell and falls in love with the King. The end. I could see myself trying to make up shit because I realised nothing has happened or will happen. Which makes dramatic moments just feel out of place and shoved in there. Because they were. There's no real antagonist, no real struggle for anything. The reader gets everything without issue. A new life, a comfortable spot to live, a promising future. All without even trying. How boring and pathetic is that? I think I wanted a lot of different things to happen in the story that was just not going to happen comfortably.

The flow of the story is awful. It goes from nothing happening to something extreme happening back to nothing in barely three chapters. If I were to draw out the excitement levels in a line graph it would look like someone is having a heart attack. Each chapter seemed to be their own separate thing and not connected to a whole story.

The readers personality needs a little bit of a tweak. I still want them to be shy but how they are now is too 'UwU' for me. I mean, if you're going to hell, you've got to have some backbone to begin with. I'll have the innocent aspect stay and maybe I'll have them be knocked down a bit to go back to a little bean that needs protecting.

I have a little bit of an idea - mainly about how I want it to begin and how the reader makes a living in Hell.(Spoiler: It's not nice) But after that, I don't know. How are they going to meet Bonnie and fall in love? What the fuck is the ending going to be? What is the actual issue here that needs a solution? I don't know.

I don't know if I'm going to give up on this story but I'm sure as hell not going to leave it in the mess it is. I would be hurting myself as a writer if I did.

It'll be left up as is until I either rewrite it entirely or abandon it. If I do rewrite, it will feel like a completely different story so if you don't want that then....tough shit.

I might be being too harsh but this thing just does not meet the standards I have today. I want it to be good. I want it to be an actual story and not just some half assed, twilight bullshit, that I made for shits and giggles.

It'll take me a long, long, LONG time to figure stuff out for this story. I'm working by myself, remember. I have to plan, write, edit, read and fix all by myself. Juggled with school, artworks and a script so you know. Patience... I tell myself as I want it done yesterday.

You are all welcome to share opinions and ideas with me, either in the comments or message. You can still ask questions about the story and such.

Rant over.

Now to get my ass working.


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